Dangerous debris could be under water
By Jenni Glenn, staff writer Gloucester Times
The steel rod an 8-year-old boy stepped on Monday may not be the only dangerous piece of industrial debris lurking on the harbor floor, city officials said yesterday.
The boy is recuperating at Children's Hospital in Boston, firefighters said. His foot was impaled on the pointed steel rod off the beach on Ten Pound Island Monday afternoon, firefighters said.
The boy had rowed a dory to the island with a group from Project Adventure Summer Camp at the Gloucester Museum School when the accident happened Monday.
Camp director JoAnne Crawford said the city should consider cleaning up the debris. It presents a danger to visitors to the island because it is so close to the public beach, Crawford said. Although the camp has been taking children to the island for years, she said she did not know about the pieces of steel under the water.
"We just don't want another accident," she said. "We're pleased this kid is recovering, but we don't want it to happen to someone else."
Debris on the sea floor can be a risk in a place with public traffic like Ten Pound Island, said Greg Ketchen, the city's harbor plan implementation coordinator. He said it would be a good idea to remove debris from well-traveled locations, but it may not be realistic to clear every object from the harbor floor, considering the port's history.
"It is an industrial port and has been for hundreds of years," he said.
Harbormaster Jim Caulkett said he does not recall anyone else being injured by debris on the ocean floor. Residents should be careful whenever they are in any body of water because there is always a possibility there may be broken glass bottles or other debris, he said.
"You just don't know what could be on the bottom," he said.
But this accident may be unusual because the boy jumped out of the dory in a rocky area at low tide, Caulkett said. Typically, no one would wade or bring a boat near the rocks, he said.
Water erosion wore the tip of the steel rod into a point, said Fire Captain Miles Schlichte.
The rod could have come from a number of structures that used to stand on Ten Pound Island, Caulkett said. The island was the site of the first Coast Guard air station in the country and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Hatchery, a government fish farm.
The steel bar, which was about 18 inches long, could have come from either of those two structures, said Gloucester historian Joseph Garland. Other buildings on the island predated steel, he said.
Retired lobsterman and fisherman Joe Santapaola said the location off the beach suggests the rod was once part of the ramp the air station used to move landing seaplanes on to the island. The ramp was made out of 40-foot pine planks and fastened to the harbor floor with steel and iron rods, he said. The ramp broke up in a storm before the station closed in the 1930s, Santapaola said. He remembers the structure from his childhood in Gloucester.
"Some of the hardware and stuff is still there," he said.
Firefighters used the jaws of life yesterday to cut the steel rod. A camp counselor held the boy up as firefighters operated the Jaws of Life underwater, Schlichte said.
The boy was flown by medical helicopter to Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery yesterday to remove the remaining piece of steel from his foot, Crawford said.
Firefighters, the harbormaster's staff and the Coast Guard participated in the nearly two-hour rescue Monday.
By Jenni Glenn, staff writer Gloucester Times
The steel rod an 8-year-old boy stepped on Monday may not be the only dangerous piece of industrial debris lurking on the harbor floor, city officials said yesterday.
The boy is recuperating at Children's Hospital in Boston, firefighters said. His foot was impaled on the pointed steel rod off the beach on Ten Pound Island Monday afternoon, firefighters said.
The boy had rowed a dory to the island with a group from Project Adventure Summer Camp at the Gloucester Museum School when the accident happened Monday.
Camp director JoAnne Crawford said the city should consider cleaning up the debris. It presents a danger to visitors to the island because it is so close to the public beach, Crawford said. Although the camp has been taking children to the island for years, she said she did not know about the pieces of steel under the water.
"We just don't want another accident," she said. "We're pleased this kid is recovering, but we don't want it to happen to someone else."
Debris on the sea floor can be a risk in a place with public traffic like Ten Pound Island, said Greg Ketchen, the city's harbor plan implementation coordinator. He said it would be a good idea to remove debris from well-traveled locations, but it may not be realistic to clear every object from the harbor floor, considering the port's history.
"It is an industrial port and has been for hundreds of years," he said.
Harbormaster Jim Caulkett said he does not recall anyone else being injured by debris on the ocean floor. Residents should be careful whenever they are in any body of water because there is always a possibility there may be broken glass bottles or other debris, he said.
"You just don't know what could be on the bottom," he said.
But this accident may be unusual because the boy jumped out of the dory in a rocky area at low tide, Caulkett said. Typically, no one would wade or bring a boat near the rocks, he said.
Water erosion wore the tip of the steel rod into a point, said Fire Captain Miles Schlichte.
The rod could have come from a number of structures that used to stand on Ten Pound Island, Caulkett said. The island was the site of the first Coast Guard air station in the country and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Hatchery, a government fish farm.
The steel bar, which was about 18 inches long, could have come from either of those two structures, said Gloucester historian Joseph Garland. Other buildings on the island predated steel, he said.
Retired lobsterman and fisherman Joe Santapaola said the location off the beach suggests the rod was once part of the ramp the air station used to move landing seaplanes on to the island. The ramp was made out of 40-foot pine planks and fastened to the harbor floor with steel and iron rods, he said. The ramp broke up in a storm before the station closed in the 1930s, Santapaola said. He remembers the structure from his childhood in Gloucester.
"Some of the hardware and stuff is still there," he said.
Firefighters used the jaws of life yesterday to cut the steel rod. A camp counselor held the boy up as firefighters operated the Jaws of Life underwater, Schlichte said.
The boy was flown by medical helicopter to Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery yesterday to remove the remaining piece of steel from his foot, Crawford said.
Firefighters, the harbormaster's staff and the Coast Guard participated in the nearly two-hour rescue Monday.
