Attempt to free stranded shrimp boat on Ormond Beach becomes spectacle sport

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – It looked like a promising day for high tide to help ship out the 77-foot shrimping vessel that's been stuck in the sand on a Volusia County Beach for about two weeks.
 
"Right now the salvage company is basically tied off to the rear of the vessel and they're pulling back on it, and they're going to try and basically pull it out of the sand," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Dickinson.
 
Hundreds of people watched and took pictures, including Bill and Linette Cooper from Illinois.
 
"We're excited to see the boat get pulled out," Bill Cooper said. "We don't see anything like this back in Illinois. It's all cornfields."
 
Some people spent hours watching the tug boat that started to remove the shrimping vessel early Tuesday morning. Ormond Beach Rentals supplied free chairs and umbrellas, to give beachgoers a front row view of the removal process.
 
"This is something we haven't had in Ormond Beach in a while. So, we wanted to let people experience what Ormond Beach and Volusia County has to offer," said Alex Kratochwill, with Ormond Beach Rentals.
 
However, it wasn't smooth sailing for Marine Salvage & Services Inc. The company used a boat with mooring lines in an attempt to rescue the stranded vessel. The first line snapped, which sounded like a loud bang.
 
"They had to go back to their back up mooring line and that one didn't last very long at all," said Chuck Cravotta, a former Marine Merchant.
 
Cravotta said the crew then spliced the mooring line to reattach itself to the shrimp boat and started tugging again. The U.S. Coast Guard was also monitoring the boat to make sure the process ran smoothly.
 
"We've had Coast Guard guys on board just to ensure that the integrity of the hull is correct, make sure nothing's been impacted. Fuel wise, there's been no impacts to the environment," said Dickinson.
 
Some progress was made but not enough. Crews will be back out Wednesday morning and so will the spectators.