Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2005)

Witte describes the "shock value" of his first flyby over Plaquemines Parish — where everything from Belle Chasse to Venice and Pilot Town beyond is or was located — as "sobering." As much as the sight of it all would prompt immediate responses, the future in this scenario was as sobering as the past. The

Atlantic zone does not have just hurri- canes, it has a "hurricane season," which like hunting and fishing seasons has a formal closing. It's at the end of

November. Katrina, in the final days of

August, left plenty of time for an encore.

Not every storm for the season of '05 has been a hurricane, of course. With winds under 75, they're just "tropical storms." But they're impressive enough to get names, and to recommend against moving high objects through the ocean.

There was, for example, Ophelia, and the Donjon 1,000-ton crane Chesapeake 1000. With the tug Atlantic Salvor, the crane sat in the bay of its name for well over a week. The tug Powhatan with the

Columbia, a 400-ton revolving derrick barge, was similarly confined by the ele- ments. With the Powhatan and the

Columbia moving on for Alabama, the

Chesapeake 1000 finally arrived at

Venice on September 29. "The Captain of the Port of New

Orleans had anticipated the hit," said

Kevin Teichman, representing a second generation at T&T. "Before the storm had hit, they'd moved to Alexandria — I assume they expected to have quite a lot of damage — and requested our 53-ft. command trailer." Just after the storm, the Coast Guard requested helicopters, and Teichman found himself on his first of several flights over Venice, and the tip of another finger in the Louisiana

Gulf, Port Fourchon, "taking note of how many vessels were beached or sunk. I remember the first time I flew over there, and the destruction and dev- astation was just overwhelming — it's something I'll never forget."

On Sept. 2, they moved the trailer to

Belle Chasse "and used it for the air ops at the navy base, where the power had gone out. Meanwhile we were preparing our barges to come over. We didn't expect to find services or hotels where they were headed, so we put quarters by

Martin Quarters of Galiano on with complete systems to be totally self suffi- cient, bunks and showers, and provi- sions for large supplies of diesel and gasoline. It took about a week to get the barges ready, and we mobilized at

Venice on September 10."

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ENGINEERINGNEWS 42 Gulf Coast Resources Guide Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

From here it's a quarter- to half-mile to the water, according to the salvors at Titan. The boats are high and dry, but their removal had to wait for other parts of the same highway to be de-flooded. (Photo: Don Sutherland.)

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