Chapter 598

10/5/2021

The Karen E

I coulda died

So there I was last week at the Lady of Angels Cemetery in Colonie when the angels were talking to me. Had just visited a friend's grave and next to it was the Markoski monument. Gave it a quick look and immediately saw the Karen E Lost at Sea August 9, 1981 (or about midnight beginning of the day Aug 10, 1981). I remember well that vessel going down at midnight in Long Island Sound with 5 perishing and one lone survivor. I was also lost in the fog that same midnight in Long Island waters. I was on the Reynolds Channel shipping lane  doing a water quality survey in the Boston Whaler.  Thus, I followed the news of that event as much as I could.

When the fog rolled in my partner Fran Zagorski and I could not see ten feet in front of us. We were a mile from our launch site and had to use the nautical charts, and dead reconing, navigating by compass bearings. We proceeded slowly but the wind kept blowing us around so the compass needle was swinging around even though we were holding the steering steady. Our stern light was casting a large shadow ahead of us as if a ship was approaching us. Large industrial barges used our shipping channel so it was an erie scary time. At one point a small motorboat approached us but when they saw the DEC emblem on our boat they took off like a bat out of hell. Must have been some illegal clam harvesters. 

Eventually we made it back to Hempstead, trailer up and stayed overnight in a popup camper at Fran's Uncle's house (pop up tent trailer) on the north shore.

This is a recap of the story in a nutshell. 

Coast Guard Findings of fact.

All a part of my continuing education program in retirement.

Richard K Lubin , of West Hartford, took wife Jane & his family and friends on his private 36 foot Trojan yacht the Karen E on a pleasure trip from Pilots Point Marina Westport, CT to Montauk Pt. Karen E was his daughter's name a ten year old on board. On the way home in the darkness at midnight his boat had lost electrical power and one of his two inboard engines had quit and the other was sputtering (after contaminating their gas tanks with diesel fuel).

They pulled up for help beside the David McCallister tug boat that was towing a 6000 + ton barge of dry cement on a 1250 foot line. Thus more than 1000 times the size of the large pleasure boat.

There were several cement industries within the Hudson River. Some abandonded. Some cement is now shipped in self propelled and self unloading barges. Found this very nice video on the cement industry.

Wanted to get some tugs from the drone but rain, rain, rain. Will do later along with ports of entry if I can evade security.

In the dark of night with 20mph winds and 3 foot chop the tug slowed to 4 knots. The tug advised them to proceed to a buoy and await the Coast Guard. As the pleasure boat moved away they got tangled in the tug's tow line crashed into the barge and went down like the Titanic , Lubin testified, unbeknownst to the tug captain.

Lubin treaded water for 6 hours till getting picked up  near the shore of Point Orient on the north fork of L.I.

Besides the sole survivor, two other bodies were recovered but three remained lost at sea as well as the pleasure boat.

Thomas Markoski founded Tin Pan Records in Hartford, CT. Lubin was found to be primarily at fault and had to pay over $1.3 million to the estate of Markoski. Lubin was inexperienced and didn't even know how many degrees are in a compass (answer 360). Anyone can buy and operate a pleasure craft and it's understandable they just want to have fun without spending a lifetime studying maritime science. The McAllister company has over 100 years experience but they were admonished for some of their behaviors.

Didn't have specific photos from the 1981 survey but this was from a different survey on the Reynolds Channel at midnight.

Still another shot from Nov 83 on Long Island showing the darkness, dankness and fogginess of late night surveys.  Believe this is from the Town of Hempstead Marine that we could use free being State representatives.

A screen shot from the Maritime Traffic app. You can navigate with that tool, woulda been a great asset back then right on your cell phone. Click on a ship and get a wealth of info. Name, past route, current velocity, destination, ports of call, owners, sizes, dates. I inserted my location at the time the Karen E went down.

As I said above I had been seeking my friend's grave site after doing the chapter on the Lark Dove Project. Pete was a great guy and he let me use his garage to change rod bearings in my 1970 Fiat so long ago before I had a garage. Found it "ironic" that the Karen E monument was right next door.

Is this a precautionary tale of how near death can be? Or how angels have protected me in the past? Or how many near misses a person has that he is not even aware of? Or all just coincidence.

Hudson River Pilots association another good source of maritime info