Digital Extra

Once called the Marjorie McAllister and the Helen McAllister, both tugs flipped over in their younger days, and in one of the accidents six people died.

Eklof did not own either of the tugs at the time of the accidents, which happened more than 25 years ago.

Nonetheless, the early histories of the vessels shed some light on what kind of tugs are used in the tug and barge business -- an industry many say is underregulated -- and the many lives some of these tugs have had.

A Coast Guard record of incidents on the Scandia, Thor and North Cape over the past five years also provides a glimpse into the lives of these vessels.

While none of the incidents remotely approach the seriousness of the spill on Rhode Island's coastline, or necessarily implicate Eklof Marine Corp. in wrongdoing, the list suggests that when it comes to tugs and barges, it's one mishap after another.

--April 10, 1992: One person injured on the Scandia.

--July 28, 1992: Scandia involved in minor pollution.

--Aug. 24, 1992: Scandia involved in collision.

And so on.

The Journal-Bulletin is seeking more information about all of these incidents.

Two events in the history of Eklof Marine Corp. and its vessels stand out in light of what has happened in Rhode Island. A Coast Guard Auxiliary member in Providence, Fred Alger, said this week that there was a boiler fire on the Scandia on March 6, 1995.

More information about this fire could not be obtained yesterday. Reached last night, a spokesman for Eklof Marine Corp., Jesse Lewis, said he could not confirm that it happened.

And six years ago, on Feb. 28, 1990, a leaking barge owned by Eklof Marine spilled 27,000 gallons of commercial fuel oil into Kill van Kull, a waterway that divides Staten Island, N.Y., and New Jersey.

The spill took place, when the barge was taking on oil at Exxon Corp.'s terminal in Bayonne, N.J., New York Newsday reported at the time. It forced the temporary closing of a busy commercial waterway and fouled a stretch of the Rockaway Peninsula.

Tarballs washed up on Long Island's barrier beaches in the days following the spill. Eklof did not claim responsibility for the tarballs, but it paid to have them cleaned up, Newsday reported.

According to the Coast Guard, the oil leaked from a 12- by 6-inch hole in the barge believed to have been caused by a tugboat positioning itself near the vessel. Eklof quickly accepted responsibility for the spill and paid for the cleanup.

Faith Yando, editor of "Oil Spill Intelligence Report," a newsletter that tracks oil spills, said yesterday that despite two sizable spills in six year, Eklof's record in the industry for oil spills is "pretty good."

Until last Friday, "they've never had a major spill," she said.

The fact that the public doesn't like to hear, and which frustrates the shipping industry, Yando said, is that if a region relies on shipping for transporting fuel, as New England does, there is an "inherent risk."

"There are going to be spills," she said.

Given that fact, the issue becomes how a company responds to spills and in Rhode Island, Eklof "has brought a lot of resources to bear," Yando said.

The Scandia and Thor were owned by McAllister Brothers Towing Co. of New York, a major tugboat operator, before Eklof added them to its fleet. Built in the 1960s, the deep, narrow tugs had the same design -- one that appears to have been flawed, tug captains familiar with the vessels said yesterday.

"The design was not a good design," Capt. Ed Sanchez of New Bedford, who once owned the Thor, said.

Sanchez said the vents for the tugs' fuel tanks were located below their outside railings. When the tugs were low in the water, the vents would be covered, resulting in a ballast problem, he said.

Sanchez said he knows that this problem has been corrected on the Scandia and Thor; his company, Sanchez Marine Services, rebuilt the Thor in the 1970s.

As for the Scandia, Sanchez said he could tell by looking at news photos of the crippled tug on Moonstone Beach that it has been rebuilt, even if he at first mistook it for the Thor.

"I said, `That's the Marjorie McAllister.' Then I said, `No it's not, that's the Helen McAllister,' " Sanchez said.

Details about the flipping accident of the Helen McAllister could not be obtained yesterday, but several people recall that it took place in the early 1970s in Maine.

The record on the Marjorie McAllister is much more complete.

It sank off the North Carolina coast on Nov. 2, 1969, during a violent storm, according to news accounts at the time. Six lives were lost. The Coast Guard searched and searched for the missing vessel -- at one point examining a piece of cork with the words "Tug Help, Cape Sholes" for clues.

But the tug wasn't discovered until three years later.

The National Transportation Safety Board cited "extremely adverse weather, flooding of the engine room and the sudden capsizing of the vessel," as reasons for its demise.

And pointing to a problem that many say persists today in the tug industry -- lack of regulation -- the NTSB recommended that the Coast Guard seek legislation to "require licensing of masters of towing vessels" and the inspection of tugs.

The accidents of the Thor and Scandia may have happened long ago, but they have not been forgotten. The Scandia's former captain, Steven D. Brown, remarked this week, "It's always creepy to go out on a boat that has sunk."