Boat Hits Unlit Navy Barge

A 26-foot-long house boat partially sank in Lake Pend Oreille Sunday night after striking an unlit U.S. Navy barge anchored near Bayview.

Kootenai County authorities said Brian Scoggin, 17, of Spokane was piloting the houseboat to shore. Scoggin did not see the Navy barge in the middle of the lake and hit a corner of it at about 11:15 p.m.

The boat partly sank in the 1,000-foot deep portion of the lake before it was tied to the barge. None of the three passengers on the boat was injured. The boat is owned by Scoggin’s father.

The barge is owned by the Navy’s David Taylor Research Center in Bayview. The center does sonar tests on submarines and often has a barge anchored in the lake.

Authorities are still investigating the accident and why the barge was out on the lake without lights on.

, DataTimes