For the last two months, salvage crews have been trying to get the salmon tender Lone Star out of the Igushik River near Dillingham. The recovery effort was put on hold while  Unalaska salvage expert Dan Magone revamped the plan, but operations should begin again late next  week.  

As KUCB’s Ben Matheson reports, the new plan incorporates lessons that crews learned the hard way.

The same fast-moving currents that played a part in the vessel’s sinking severely limited working hours for salvage crews. It also limited their ability to position themselves around the wreck.

Magone says in early lift attempts, the rushing tide would have been strong enough to sweep up the Lone Star once it was dislodged and carry it away, while it was still attached to the lifting gear.

"That’s going to cause all of your anchors to get torn off the bottom and you’re going to have a big wreck, see," said Magone. "That was the biggest problem we had is there was no time to get the boat lifted and floated with the speed of the gear we had."

They tried to use a combination of air-filled lift bags and cranes. That was far from ideal. The heavy lift barge that Magone would usually use for a job like the Lone Star isn’t up to Coast Guard code right now. 

So for this response, they tried to improvise with smaller equipment. And to make matters worse, the Lone Star turned out to be extremely heavy for its size. It might be because there’s still fish on-board the 78-foot vessel. But it could also have something to do with suction, from the muddy riverbed. 

"We don’t know yet. But when we get it up, we’re going to find out," said Magone.

Magone’s determined to get it out, so he’s gone back to the drawing board. He went to Unalaska to get new, heavy-duty response equipment provided by Resolve Marine Group. That’s the Florida-based company that recently bought out Magone’s business.   

Magone’s new plan revolves around Resolve’s barge, two chain pullers and a heavy-duty crane.  Overall, they provide 700 tons of lifting power. That should be more than enough.

To get the best grip on the vessel, Magone says his crew will try to wrap the Lone Star in chains. They’ll have to use a high-pressure jet lance.

"It has a cable shackled to one end of it. The divers point that in under the hull and then we lower the pipe down and it digs itself under the boat," said Magone.

Divers can connect chains to the cable, and then pull the Lone Star up from the bottom. They only have to get it up a few feet so the heavy lift barge can drag it into shallower water.

"When we get shallow enough then we’ll set it down and let the tide go out and the tide will expose the boat so we don’t end up vulnerable with the boat hanging sideways in the current,"

That whole process will take about a week, plus a few extra days to let the Lone Star drain. Then, Magone’s team will tow the vessel to Unalaska.

The Coast Guard signed off on this new plan earlier this week. They’re sending a single representative from Coast Guard Sector Anchorage to the Igushik River, to ensure the rescue is carried out safely.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed in a salvage operation in fast-moving remote waters. But Petty Officer Shawn Eggert says the Coast Guard has faith in this new approach.

"With the plan being approved, I think there is confidence that this time around they have the right equipment on scene, and we’re all hoping they’ll be successful with this," said Eggert.

The vessel sank June 30th with about 10 thousand gallons of diesel and other petroleum products onboard.  The leaking fuel prompted the state to shut down the Igushik River sockeye fishery at the peak the of the season.