A year ago today, a cargo ship capsized in St. Simons Sound. Part of it still remains there
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Tuesday marks one year since a cargo ship capsized off the coast of St. Simons Island and trapped crew members inside the ship.
The Golden Ray rolled on its side the morning of Sept. 8, 2019 as it was leaving Brunswick bound for Baltimore. The ship had been transporting 4,200 vehicles at the time of the accident.
A pilot and 23 crew members were on board and nearly all of them escaped that Sunday. However, four crew members became trapped inside the ship.
Channel 2 Action News livestreamed the rescue efforts on our website and news app.
The search and rescue operations took almost 36 hours to complete before all four members were safely rescued that Monday afternoon on Sept. 9.
Now one year later, parts of the Golden Ray still sit in St. Simons Sound. Removal operations have been ongoing but delayed in recent months due to weather and COVID-19.
Meanwhile, neighbors in St. Simons have been worried about the environmental concerns and with hurricane season in effect.
“We thought, what is the worst that can happen? The worst would be that the ship could leak oil, that it would still be there during hurricane season, that they will cut it vertically and the ship will fall apart in the sound,” Megan Desrosiers, president and CEO of One Hundred Miles, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Nedra Rhone. “All of those things are what it is coming to be.”
Georgia Ports Authority spokesman Robert Morris said an incident like this is the first of its kind for a vessel at either the Brunswick or Savannah ports.
Rescue teams pull crew members from ship that capsized off Georgia coast
Rescue teams pull crew members from ship that capsized off Georgia coast
Rescue teams pull crew members from ship that capsized off Georgia coast
The M/V Golden Ray, a 656-foot vehicle carrier that departed the Brunswick port about 1 a.m. Sunday, suffered a fire on board. Coast Guard was notified that the ship had capsized in St. Simons Sound off the shore of St. Simons Island.
A tugboat pushes on the capsized ship. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for four crew members from a vehicle carrier ship that caught fire and capsized early Sunday morning in the St. Simons Sound off the Georgia coast near Brunswick.
United States Coast Guard rescue teams working to access the Golden Ray near St. Simons Sound.
United States Coast Guard rescue teams working to access the Golden Ray near St. Simons Sound.
The capsized ship with Saint Simons in the background.
An oil spill is visible in this Georgia Department of Natural Resources photo. The DNR advised beachgoers to avoid swimming or wading in the waters at St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island until more is known about the environmental impact.
United States Coast Guard rescue teams working to access the Golden Ray near St. Simons Sound.
United States Coast Guard rescue teams working to access the Golden Ray near St. Simons Sound.
The Coast Guard said it has established a safety perimeter around the vessel and no water craft are permitted within a half-mile.
Local boat captain Cap Fendig said Sunday’s incident brought back “haunting memories” of a November 1972 incident in which a cargo vessel struck the former draw bridge in the channel that led to the deaths of 10 people.
The area of the channel where the Golden Ray capsized was charted by the British in the late 1700s.
According to vesselfinder.com, the Golden Ray was built in 2017.