THE completion of a 5,200 mile tow of a fully laden 50,000 dwt bulk carrier from off Port Canaveral,Florida to Kalamaki, Greece in late May marked another successful job for US-based salvage firm Donjon Marine Co., Inc which is celebrating its 33rd anniversary this year.

     The New Jersey-based company's salvage tug Atlantic Salvor was contracted by Wijsmuller Salvage BV to tow the bulk carrier Boreas to Greece after the ship suffered a main engine failure off the US East Coast in mid-April. The 7,000 hp Atlantic Salvor, employed on another tow at the time, proceeded to the bulk carrier's location and was alongside transferring fuel and water just 96 hours after the contract was signed. The tow of the Boreas, with a laden draught of 41frac12; ft, was accomplished at an average speed of 8 knots using 2,100 ft of 2¼ inch wire. The Atlantic Salvor stopped at Bermuda and Gibraltar to take on additional fuel and water before delivering its tow at Kalamaki.


Derrick Chesapeake, with a lift capacity of 1000 tons, was successfully used to remove a fire-damaged and grounded tug from the north side of New York's Long Island

     On the return journey, the tug took on a much smaller tow when it stopped in the Azores to pick up the 124 ft British yacht Talon, which had suffered an engine room fire. This tow, to a shipyard in Jacksonville, Florida, was completed in 12 days using the yacht's ½ inch chain.

     Only three weeks prior to the Boreas job, the Atlantic Salvor had completed another 'deadship' tow, moving the 650 ft Mexican tanker Tolteca from the west coast of Mexico to the east coast for McDermott Shipbuilding Inc. The Atlantic Salvor departed Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico with the 45,000 grt Tolteca in late February, bound for the McDermott shipyard at Veracruz, via the Panama Canal. The voyage was completed in under a month.

     Donjon, now recognised as one of the leading towing and salvage firms on the Easi Coast of North America, has been expanding beyond its traditional business to also encompass heavy-lift, marine construction, demolition, and hazardous material removal and disposal. The company's 1,000-ton capacity floating marine crane, Chesapeake 1000, the largest on the US east coast, was used in July to successfully refloat the 3000 yd³ dump scow GL-42 from 25 ft of water just outside the entrance to New York harbour.


Donjon's 7000-hp salvage tug Atlantic Salvor is used in the winter months to break ice on New York's Hudson River.

     Donjon was awarded the contract by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co., Inc. to raise the sunken 'split hull' dump scow, which lay on its starboard side and was partially exposed. The scow was then towed to Donjon's ship scrapping facility on Staten Island, NY for disposal. The lift was accomplished using the Chesapeake in combination with Donjon's 200-ton salvage platform, the Farrell 256, while the tow to the scrapyard was completed by the tug Paul Andrew.

Light tower scrapped

     While this salvage was being completed, Donjon's Atlantic Salvor was employed on towing the remains of the Savannah Light Tower to New Jersey for scrapping. The 30-year-old light tower, a four-legged aid-to-navigation and weather station structure located IO miles off Tybee Island, Georgia, had been hit and destroyed by a containership in November last year.


Hopper dredge Maryland was salvaged by Donion in New York harbour after it broke its back while transporting a full load of salt

     At the beginning of this year, Donjon began first-phase removal of debris and wreckage at the site using the Chesapeake, which successfully hoisted the tower's main house from 50 ft of water, as well as several containers which had dropped off the ship. Second-phase salvage of the tower and its support followed using the crane barge Michigan, the tug Paul Andrew, and a company deck barge to support divers. Diving operations and topside demolition was directed by one of Donjon's salvage masters and performed daily during a 12 to 16 hour shifted. All of the tower's steel framework, some 400 tons, was loaded onto the deck barge for disposal.

Long distance tows

     After the Atlantic Salvor delivered the remains of the Savannah Light Tower to the scrapyards, it was contracted to tow the ex-USNS Trout, a 278-ft high-speed attack submarine, from Rhode Island to Florida for use as a training platform in the Florida Keys. As the US Navy's salvor since the late 1970s, Donjon has performed numerous tows for the US government, ranging from small boats to aircraft carriers. These have included moving a Navy's drydock from Guam to Texas, towing the frigate Elmer Montgomery from Philadelphia to Turkey and towing the aircraft carrier Saratoga from Jacksonville to Philadelphia.


Spud crane barge Michigan was used to salvage and disman the wrecked Savannah light tower hit by a containership

     Other long-distance tows, both for the military and private industry, have included moving the fully-laden 80,000 dwt tanker Amersham from the Caribbean Sea into Curacao, taking the uncompleted TAO Navy tanker Henry Ekford from Tampa to Norfolk, and emergency tows of the fully-laden Military Sealift Command rapid deployment ships Gulf Banker and Santa Anna.

     In recent years Donjon has expanded its towing and salvage interests to the West Coast by taking a 25 per cent share of Portland, Oregon-based Fred Devine Diving and Salvage, which operates the salvage tug Salvage Chief out of Astoria, Oregon. Donjon has also taken a 50 per cent interest in Clean Venture/Cycle Chem, a hazardous waste management company located on the US East Coast, and a 25 per cent share of Donjon Environmental Marine Services (DEMS), an oil spill response organisation formed in 1995 to serve the US East and Gulf coast and Caribbean regions. The latter two firms allow Donjon to provide 'cradle-to-grave' services for hazardous materials generated by both land and water-based salvage and related operations. This includes 24-hour emergency hazardous material and petroleum spill response, solvent recycling, chemical detoxification, site decontamination and secure land burial.


Teamed for offshore salvage and demolition work are the crane barge Michigan, a Witte-class 140 x 40 ft deck barge and the tug Paul Andrew

     Donjon is also active in marine engineering and dredging. Its most recent operations have included channel maintenance and improvement, landfill, and subaqueous rock drilling on the US East Coast. The company has concentrated on dredging that requires upland disposal, which is in response to international environmental awareness and subsequent restrictions to use of disposal sites. It uses state-of-the-art radio location and surveying equipment, including DelNorte Trisponder positioning systems and innerspace fathometers for accuracy.

     Donjon's dredging equipment inventory includes enclosed material barges and digging buckets as well as the floating crane Michigan which can be fitted with a unique dual clamshell bucket/dipper stick with a capacity of 12 yd³.

Hopper dredge Maryland was salvaged by Donion in New York harbour after it broke its back while transporting a full load of salt.

Asian Shipping
September 1997