Testimony concludes for towboat inquiry
PITTSBURGH – The crew of the towboat Rocket didn’t hesitate when given a choice to stay or go last month before their pilot entered the raging waters below the Montgomery Locks and Dam on a rescue mission. “Let’s go,” they said, breaking out blankets and life rings as pilot Charles L. Montgomery of East Liverpool, Ohio, headed into harm’s way.
Montgomery and deckhands Robert Cornman of East Liverpool, Thomas Siegler of Neville Island and Donald “Leroy” Brown of Aliquippa succeeded in saving two stranded crewmen from the Elizabeth M. towboat. Four others weren’t as lucky.
Three of the crewmen – including Edward Crevda, 22, a deckhand from West Brownsville – died, and a fourth, 40-year-old Rick Conklin of Crucible, is presumed dead as a result of the Jan. 9 accident that sent the Elizabeth M. and two of its six loaded coal barges tumbling through the dam on the Ohio River in Industry, Beaver County.
Montgomery was the last witness called in a weeklong U.S. Coast Guard inquiry in Pittsburgh, which concluded Friday.
Hearing officer Lt. Cmdr. Michael J. Kelly offered no conclusions, saying he would analyze the testimony and evidence submitted during the hearing and issue a report with his findings.
The report could take up to a year, or longer, to prepare.
Kelly called five witnesses Friday, including two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees from the dam and three towboat operators, who took part in the rescue.
The two lock men, both on duty the night the Elizabeth M. passed through en route from Georgetown to Braddock with a 6,600-ton load of coal, said the boat made a “picture-perfect” entrance into the lock chamber and experienced no problems being locked through.
Something inexplicable went wrong, however, when the boat began to exit, taking a diagonal course while still inside the lock walls. Earlier witnesses said that an inexperienced pilot was at the helm and that the barges struck the lock walls several times, snapping cables that held the barges together.
A dangerous current grabbed the barges and pushed them into the dam’s vortex. The Elizabeth M. was pulled over the dam as its captain tried to save the barges. The episode took about 20 minutes from beginning to end.
Lock employee Edward Helenic of Armagh, Pa., said he thought Elizabeth M. Capt. George “Toby” Zappone of Crucible would surely let the barges go over the dam and pilot the boat to safety.
“At first I thought, ‘Well, he’s letting them go,'” Helenic said. “Then I say to myself, ‘What the hell is he doing?'” as Zappone followed the barges into hazardous water facing the dam.
Minutes later, the boat and two barges washed through.
Pilots of three towboats, including the Sandy Drake, Lillian G. and Rocket, responded and began picking the dead and one survivor from the water amid runaway barges and swirling debris. They never found Conklin, Zappone’s brother-in-law.
Montgomery said it took him about 1 hour, 15 minutes to make a 7-mile trip from near Midland.
“I asked my deck crew if anybody wanted to get off,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a hairy situation, and I didn’t want to jeopardize them. They all agreed – ‘Let’s go.'”
He said he could see the Elizabeth M. as he rounded a bend in the river. It was lodged on the downriver side of the dam, where it remains. Two men – Zappone and Elizabeth M. deckhand John “Tony” Thomas – were clinging to the back in icy, chest-high water.
Montgomery’s crew had blankets and life rings on the deck and hot chicken broth on a stove.
Montgomery said it took him several tries to jockey the boat through “extremely rough” water pouring out of the dam, even though lock employees had closed the dam gates directly in front of the Elizabeth M.
He said he could see the life rings going up toward the stricken boat, but could not tell whether the stranded men caught them. His crew hollered each time they pulled one aboard.
First came Zappone, and then Thomas, of Powhatan Point, Ohio, and Montgomery said he was relieved to pull out of there.
“There was no time to be scared until it was over,” he said, praising his crew for their efforts. “My legs felt like pasta. I had to sit down for a couple minutes to let my legs quit shaking.”