Sunken Tug Leaking Fuel Near Seattle

Coast Guard divers worked Sunday to plug a diesel fuel leak from an aging 59-foot wooden tugboat that sank in 80 feet of water in Shilshole Bay.

Between 10 and 100 gallons of diesel have escaped from the Omar, forming a rainbow-colored sheen a mile long and as much as 30 yards wide, said Don Laisure, a Coast Guard marine science technician.

The sheen was allowed to dissipate because it was too thin to scoop up, Laisure said.

No environmental damage was reported.

Divers were working to stop the leak by wrapping “a sticky, gooey substance” around the submerged tug’s fuel tank vents until the remaining fuel can be pumped out today, Laisure said.

It isn’t known how much fuel the tug held.

The Omar had been tied to a couple of barges when it sank sometime within the past two days, said Coast Guard Lt. Cameron Webster.

Recreational divers found the tug Sunday in 80 feet of water.

The Omar, believed to have been built in the 1940s, also sank in Lake Union last year.

“The integrity of the hull got to a point where water was coming in faster than the bilge pump could take it out,” Laisure said.

Owner Sherman Smith, who reportedly was in Mexico over the weekend, also was fined an undetermined amount for two oil spills in 1993 and 1994, Laisure said.

The agency will try to recover cleanup costs from him when he returns, and he will be responsible for raising the vessel, Laisure said.

“Christmas is probably not going to be good for him this year,” Laisure said.