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6.13.2000
Thousands lose power after cruise ship snags cable lines
By TIFFANY BARTISH
and ANDREW GOLDSMITH
Journal Staff Writers

JAMESTOWN -- A cruise ship leaving Newport Sunday night -- apparently pulling its anchor -- damaged two underwater power lines connecting Newport and Jamestown, cutting off power to the island's residents for 17 hours.

A Premier Cruise Lines ship, "Big Red Boat II," struck the power lines at about 9 p.m. as it was heading south through the East Passage of Narragansett Bay. Although its anchor should have been raised, for some reason it was down, said Newport Harbormaster Jake Farrell.

Classes were canceled yesterday for Jametown's 700 elementary school students. The Jamestown Fire Station pumped water from a nearby pond so those residents on the north end of the island, who rely on wells and septic systems, could flush their toilets. The town also used the station to give away about 500 gallons of drinking water.

Bill Murphy, of Jamestown, who owns Sears in Middletown, trucked in generators from other Sears stores in South County and sold them to homeowners, for $606.68 each. His supply, which had filled a semitrailer, was down to six by noon.

"This is a good drill for hurricane season," Murphy said.

A Premier Cruise Lines spokeswoman, Teresa Hall, said she did not know why the ship's anchor was down as it left the harbor.

The cruise line and the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Providence are investigating the accident. Yesterday, Coast Guard officials said it could be several weeks before they know what happened.

The Coast Guard is also investigating a recent accident involving another Premier ship, the Big Red Boat III. In that incident, which took place three days ago in Texas, a tugboat towing the Big Red Boat III sank and the cruise ship was damaged. No one was injured.

The Big Red Boat II was carrying 698 passengers and had just started a seven-night cruise of New England and Canada when the accident occurred here. It had anchored near Goat Island on Sunday and was scheduled to leave Newport at 4 p.m., but it was delayed because of a minor, oil leak. That leak is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.

When the ship finally set sail later in the evening, it had a harbor pilot on board as required, according to John Kimbro, a Premier spokesman. The ship was about a mile southwest of Goat Island when the anchor snagged the power lines on the ocean floor.

In Jamestown, about 3,000 customers immediately lost their power. In addition, about 3,000 customers in Newport lost their electricity, said Jackie Barry, a Narragansett Electric spokeswoman.

Farrell ordered the cruise ship to cut the anchor loose to prevent further damage to the cables.

"I was concerned they were going to drag that cable right out the mouth of the Bay," he said.

The anchor line was severed on deck with a torch at about 11:30 p.m. After that, the Coast Guard allowed the 35,000-ton vessel, which is one of five in the Premier Cruise Line fleet, to leave Newport. It was originally scheduled to sail to Boston, but because it had lost time in Newport, the ship was rerouted to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In Newport, power was restored at about 11 p.m. because the utility was able to switch customers to another line. But customers in Jamestown weren't so fortunate. The two 6-inch cables connecting Newport and Jamestown are the island's only source of electricity.

It wasn't until yesterday afternoon -- 17 hours after the lights went out -- that work crews were able to restore power to the island by splicing functioning portions of the cables together.

The outage may prove to be expensive for local businesses, many of which closed for the day. Bob Umbenhauer, owner of East Ferry Market and Deli, expected to lose up to $4,000, even though his popular eatery remained open until 2 p.m. to serve cold drinks, pastries and some sandwiches.

Umbenhauer said he had to throw away most of his deli meat. He gave away all his ice cream to schoolchildren celebrating the impromptu holiday.

"Saturday was a record day for us," he said, looking around the shop. "Now it's absolutely dead."

At home, Umbenhauer's fridge was being kept cold with help from his son, Jason, whose roommate drove a generator from house to house, running it for about two hours at each place. "Just enough to keep things cold," Jason Umbenhauer said.

Narragansett Electric is collecting claims of damages to individuals and businesses, including spoiled food and lost revenue. Company officials plan to take the claims -- and bills for the repair work -- to Premier.

"There's no way the customers of Narragansett Electric should have to pay for the damage that these people did," said Christopher E. Root, a Narragansett Electric senior vice president who oversaw the repair work yesterday.

In light of the accident, Narragansett Electric is reassessing how it supplies power to Jamestown. Company officials said they had thought the fact that the cables lie several hundred feet apart would prevent this type of accident. Now, they will look at alternatives such as running cables to the other side of the island from North Kingstown, Root said.

The island used to have generators in addition to the power lines, but they were sold last year as part of the state's restructuring of the utilities industry, Narragansett Electric officials said. The company moved generators to the island early yesterday and will keep them there to supply power if the splicing fails.

Jamestown Hardware may have been one of the few businesses in town that profited from the power failure.

By noon, the store had a waiting list for generators and was down to only a few packs of batteries hanging on a wall. Among the hot sellers were oil, propane tanks and extension cords.

A Manchester, N.H., distributor sent a truckload of merchandise -- including generators, batteries, and flashlights -- to replenish the hardware store's supplies yesterday morning.

"It took a while to put the order together because we kept adding stuff," said Scott Sherman, whose family owns the store.

The shipment arrived just as lights started coming on all over town. As soon as the power fired up, the phone started ringing. One of the first calls was for customer Steve Garnett.

It was his wife.

"She told me not to buy anything," said Garnett, who was standing at the counter with two extension cords. "But you just never know. It's still probably a good investment."

-- With staff reports from Elizabeth Abbott.

Copyright © 2000 The Providence Journal Company