Tangier Dredge Gets Overnight Dock Space During Two-Week Channel Project

The Tangier Town Council unanimously voted to let a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge tie up at the town dock after the crew was making a grueling daily commute back to Crisfield following long days of work on the island’s main channel and basin.

The Corps dredge Murden has been on the job since Wednesday, June 10, on what is supposed to be a two-week project to deepen the channel and basin, which had gotten dangerously shallow to the point that the Steven Thomas couldn’t get in and the fuel barge was beginning to rub bottom.

Council member Tommy Eskridge said he called the captain of the Murden and invited the crew to tie up at the fuel dock overnight to knock off three hours of commuting back and forth to Crisfield each day, but the 150-foot boat couldn’t quite fit.

“I offered him the front of my dock and he told me that he had looked at it but that he would also block our town dock with the boat being so big,” Eskridge said.

After talking it over with the mayor and remaining council members, a solution came together quickly.

“We all unanimously decided to allow the dredge to tie up across the front of the town dock as well as my dock from 6 PM to 6 AM nightly until the project is completed,” Eskridge said.

The council’s biggest concern was any medevac emergency requiring a boat to get someone off the island, but Beth Thomas stepped up and offered her dock for just such a situation, and Eskridge said the pilots were fully on board with the plan.

The early results from the dredging have islanders feeling good. “According to Al, Brett and the local crabbers, they are doing a great job, with them already seeing a big difference in the depth of the East channel,” Eskridge said.

Eskridge said the council was sorry for any inconvenience to residents but noted it would only be for a few more nights.

“We appreciate the Corps sending the Murden to bail us out and we want to be as accommodating as possible because as we all know, we will most-likely be depending on their services again in the near future,” he said.