Let's be sure who they're votin' for, first ... eh?
Lets be sure they find who sank the last boat first.
The only boat Pierce County sheriff’s deputies used to patrol the Puget Sound sank Monday afternoon at the Narrows Marina in Tacoma.
The 32-foot vessel, named The Reliance, had patrolled the waters since it was built in 1994, taking down floating methamphetamine labs, checking on distressed boaters and rescuing swimmers.
It is not salvageable, officials said.
A Spokane family that had pulled into the marina for gas noticed just before 2 p.m. that the back of the boat was submerged. They called for help and clicked a series of photographs while watching the vessel sink.
“It was just a bad feeling to watch a boat worth all that money go down,” said Ingrid Kinder.
According to the family’s time-stamped pictures, which they shared with deputies, the boat disappeared beneath the water within 25 minutes. All that remained above the waterline was a series of bobbing antennae.
Sheriff’s officials have not yet determined what caused the boat to sink.
Deputies took it out on patrol Sunday, but The Reliance was not used Monday. It regularly docked at the marina in the 9000 block of South 19th Street.
Tacoma and Gig Harbor police are expected to take over patrols while the Sheriff’s Office figures out what to do about its lost boat.
“The important thing to know is there’s still going to be coverage on the Puget Sound,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
“There are still rescue capabilities.”
The $500,000 boat is insured, but details on the policy were not immediately available Monday.
Divers were brought out to assess the boat and help bring it to the surface. An underwater camera tracked their movements as two divers deployed flotation devices beneath the vessel.
The devices helped bring it to the surface so Tacoma firefighters could simultaneously pump water out.
The Reliance was an all-weather patrol boat powered by twin diesel engines and connected to outdrives so the boat could rise up in shallow water.
It had been upgraded and repowered over the years with new technology, including GPS navigation, forward looking infrared cameras, marine radios and radio directional finders.
The department commissioned it in December 1994, and the boat once patrolled portions of Pierce, King, Kitsap, Mason and Thurston counties.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653
stacia.glenn@thenewstribune.com
This story was edited to correct that the boat was not pulled completely out of the water on Monday.
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Pierce County Sheriff’s office wants new patrol boat. Cost: $730,000
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/07/19/1749933/sheriffs-boat-sinks-in-shallow.html#storylink=cpy