My manager passed me this (he's a boater and had recently seen the pics ):

It was at the old Rooster Bridge at Demopolis, Ala. -- April 28, 1979

The CAHABA, Capt. Jimmy Wilkerson, was dropping 2 of his 4 barges thru the East span of Rooster Bridge -- around mile 200 on the lower Tenn-Tom -- with intent of running around thru the lift span and catching them below. Pilot Earl Barnhart was on the tow helping the 2 deckhands take off safety wires, winch wires, etc. Wilkerson underestimated current, and got too close to the bridge. They had taken loose all rigging except the stbd. winch wire, which had somehow fouled. This wire pulled the stbd. tow knee under the bridge, and when it broke, the towknee popped up and hung in the bridge steel. Now he's stuck, and the current laid the CAHABA onto the bridge, stbd. side to.

When the lower port deck went awash, the vessel rolled, went through the span, and came partially back up once it cleared. Capt. Wilkerson remained at the sticks; the port front pilot house window blew out, filling the place with water. The boat with the blue trim you see is the CATHY PARKER; she was waiting above for her turn. The CATHY radioed to the TALLAPOOSA, who was down the reach below Blacks Bluff, that something had happened to the CAHABA. Capt. Gary Grammer tied off the TALLAPOOSA's tow, and light-boated to the CAHABA, where he pushed her out into a flooded corn field. The stbd. main engine of the CAHABA was still running. The TALLAPOOSA then rescued the 3 crew members, and secured the 2 loose CAHABA barges.

The photographer was from the Linden, AL DEMOCRAT, en route to Meridian, MS, and happened to get caught as the CAHABA blew for a draw at the Rooster bridge. It's believed that what kept these pictures out of circulation for so long was that the President of Warrior & Gulf, owners of the CAHABA, bought the negatives immediately after they were published in the LINDEN DEMOCRAT.

What righted the vessel? She had just topped off with fuel at Demopolis, 14 miles upstream. The CAHABA has one central fuel tank fwd. of the engines. Had that tank been 1/2 full, she might have never come back up.


Bruno
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Bruno
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