4 pm Update – St Mary’s River Remains Closed due to Marine Casualty

SAULT STE MARIE, MI – (4 pm update) The St. Marys River remains closed due to today’s earlier grounding of the American Mariner.  The US and Canadian Coast Guards are reporting that the vessel struck the Mud Lake Junction Light about 1 am local time and then went aground on the American side of the river, half in and half out of the downbound channel.  It was also reported that the vessel was taking on water.

The US Coast Guard and Purvis Marine responded to the incident, and as of 4 pm local time the vessel is back in the navigation channel.  It appears that the Anglian Lady and the W I Scott Purvis assisted in moving the vessel back into the channel.

The American Mariner appears stopped at this point and no timeline has been released for re-opening the river to commercial traffic.  The Algoma Conveyor and the Edgar B. Speer are anchored north of Neebish Island while the Wilfred Sykes, Whitefish Bay and the salty Belasitza are anchored near Drummond Island.

We will provide more updates when new information becomes available.  (Aerial photos courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard)