Markland again

We were playing cards on the boat last night listening on the VHF radio to the dozens of tow boats waiting at Markland lock.  The lockmaster would call each of them and give them the bad news of how long it would be for them to get through, and in what order he would take them.  I had read on the internet that the new gates were to be completed by September 18.  The new gates were made in Oregon and shipped through the Panama Canal.  On the way back down here, we heard that the new gates didn't fit.

While we were listening to the VHF radio last night, we heard a tow boat captain say "Markland, number seven ain't gonna make it.  He's on the sand bar."  Then he said "Markland, number seven is in the water."  Shortly after that, we saw several emergency vehicles out on the highway.  We thought the toe boat captain was talking about the seventh barge in line to go through the lock, and the sirens were simply a coincidence......................until this morning. 

We ate breakfast in a restaurant across the road from the marina.  We overheard a conversation at the table next to us, and we put the whole story together from that.

When the wooden boat club arrived last night, there were six boats.  Number seven didn't make it.  While waiting to go through the lock, number seven started taking on water.  They ran it up on the shore next to the lock.  I think the lockmaster must have called 911.

(Warning: The following photos may be too graphic for boat lovers.)

We got out to Markland lock a little before 9 am, and called them on our VHF radio.  I told them who we were, that we were southbound, just above his lock, and wanted to lock through.  He answered back on his VHF radio "Southbound pleasure craft TONIC, do you have a VHF radio?"  (We were talking to each other on the VHF radio.)  We looked at each other inside our boat and Dawg said to tell him we have an XM radio, what channel would he like to listen to.  We're on Classic Vinyl right now.  Since the lockmaster has total control of our fate, and the dozens of tow boats waiting can hear all the conversations on the VHF, I decided not to reply.  He called back shortly and told us it would be about a 2 hour wait.  A little after 11, he called us and told us to go in the lock.  One of the coal haulers had locked up in sections, and was against the wall getting back together.  Here's the view we had when we came around the end of the lock.

After we got on around, we saw that they had left us room to get in.

We were out of the lock by 11:30. 

The crew continues to whine about the cold weather.  Actually, their conversations now sound a bit mutinous.  They are talking about taking control of the boat, going on down the Ohio River to the Cumberland River.  Jump over to the Tennessee River, down the Tenn-Tom to the Gulf of Mexico and on south to warmer weather.  They plan to disable my laptop computer so I can't send out any more blogs, then throw the cell phones overboard.  (I'm going to continue letting them think this was their idea.)