Bruce Brown

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports that "During the night of 10/11 June 2002, the 8 m log salvage vessel Bruce Brown was towing a 37 m float from Barnes Bay, on Sonora Island, to Blind Bay, off Malaspina Strait. During the passage, when the Bruce Brown was northwest of Powell River, B.C., the vessel took on water and sank. The two persons on board were found some distance from the tug, one had succumbed to hypothermia and the other to drowning." "The Bruce Brown is a vessel less than 5 gross registered tons (GRT), of open construction. The deep v-shaped hull is constructed of moulded glass-reinforced plastic. An enclosed wheelhouse is located at the vessel's mid-length with an aft-facing door to starboard, leading to the open well deck. A cuddy cabin below the forward deck is accessed from the wheelhouse, but this is not, by definition, considered as "berthed accommodation." The well deck is contained by solid bulwarks approximately 0.5 m in height. Immediately aft of the wheelhouse on the centre-line of the well deck is the engine compartment of plywood construction. The forward end of the engine compartment is fitted with a non-watertight transverse bulkhead that does not extend vertically to the well deck. The engine compartment extends aft and has a raised coaming above the well deck to the height of the bulwarks. Aft and to each side of the engine compartment, in the form of a 'U' between the bulwarks, is deck space approximately 0.5 m wide. A 15 cm diameter towing post, forward of and extending 35 cm above the engine compartment, is located on the centre-line aft of the wheelhouse."