From 1987: Freighter collision would spur construction of new Brunswick bridge

No injuries were reported, but officials said the span on U.S. 17 - the major north-south artery in eastern Glynn County - will be closed more than five months for repairs, and motorists will have to use alternate routes.

The accident — the second time a ship has struck the 31-year-old structure — occurred about 1:15 a.m. as the 608-foot freighter Ziema Bialostocka left the Brunswick harbor after delivering a cargo of oats from Sweden to the Georgia Ports Authority’s East River Terminal.

As the ship went under the lift span, an anchor protruding from its starboard side apparently struck one of the 150-foot support towers on the southwest side of the structure, causing extensive damage, officials said.

“It’s destroyed one tower. It bent one corner of the support tower, ripped it lose from the foundation and generally messed it up, bent it real bad,” said John Relihan, a state Department of Transportation (DOT) worker.

Barbara Morgan, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Frank Harris, said state Attorney General Mike Bowers asked a federal judge to issue an order allowing the state to arrest the ship, which sustained little damage, until the vessel posts bond to cover repair costs, which the DOT estimated at $3 million. A DOT spokesman in Brunswick said U.S. District Judge Anthony Alaimo issued the order Sunday.

Brunswick Harbor pilot Lawrence Gray, who was at the ship’s helm when the acc ident occurred, said the 80-foot wide freighter was “slow responding” when he attempted to guide it through the lift span opening, which has about 150 feet of horizontal clearance.

Bill Dawson, the port authority’s Brunswick terminal manager, said the freighter had to make a sharp left turn into the Brunswick River after leaving the East River in order to line up with the lift span opening. It appeared the freighter’s anchor, protruding from the starboard bow, rammed the base of the support tower, he said.

The anchor was embedded in the bow after the accident, according to Brunswick Mayor Paul Warwick, who viewed the freighter Sunday with DOT officials.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Marshall Naumann, with the marine safety office in Savannah, said Coast Guard representatives were investigating the accident, and the cause had not been determined.

“They’re checking the vessel to see if it had any problems with steering,” Naumann said.

Bridge tender George Moseley of Brunswick, who was in an elevated control booth attached to a support tower on the north side of the bridge, said the impact from the 15,000-gross-ton freighter shook the span violently.

One of the tower’s four legs was torn from its concrete base and wrenched forward about six feet, where the anchor and leg gouged basketball-sized chunks of concrete from a massive counterweight.

Hal Rives, who took over as director of the state Department of Transportation Thursday, said after inspecting the bridge that repairs probably would take 2 1 weeks.

The closing of the bridge will add 20-30 minutes of driving time for vehicles traveling between south Brunswick and Jekyll Island. The lift span will remain raised during repairs so ships can use the port, Rives said.

Downing Musgrove, 1st district DOT board member, said Sunday’s accident occurred on the 14th anniversary of the reopening of the Lanier Bridge to vehicular traffic following a collision that occurred in November 1972.

Ten people died when the freighter African Neptune hit the bridge, sending vehicles plunging 50 feet into the Brunswick River.

After that accident, the barricades that stop traffic while the span is raised were relocated to keep vehicles off the central part of the bridge as ships pass through. Rives said no vehicles were damaged in Sunday’s accident.

The ship will remain anchored in St. Simons Sound until the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Savannah completes its investigation and the ship posts bond.