Lady Luck Casino Boat Removal Begun in Lower Florida Keys
Wetlands damage apparent as crews remove casino boat
The jinxed life of the ill-named Lady Luck casino boat should come to an end within weeks. Work has started on cutting the metal hull of the 80-foot vessel into pieces to be carted away. The Lady Luck has spent more than two years sitting high and dry on a gulfside flat off mile marker 13. You can’t miss it looking bayside as you drive U.S. 1.
“It’s a very complicated project because of the location but at Day 8 of the mobilization, we’re exactly where we planned to be,” John Coffin, owner of Coffin Marine of Big Pine Key, said Friday. It’s always kind of a shock when that happens,” he laughed, “but it is going well. The devil is in the details, but barring weather or mechanical problems or some kind of accident, we should stay on schedule.”
The Lady Luck was grounded in Florida Bay by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but freed. Then Hurricane Wilma hit that October - shoving the vessel onto a shallow grass flat where it has remained since, becoming an environmental hazard, eyesore and nuisance.
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The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary tapped its shipwreck fund to pay for the $500,000 removal. Normally we don’t have to deal with a vessel this size,” sanctuary Superintendent Dave Score said. “We’re hoping it comes in under budget.” Typically owners of large vessels that go hard aground in the federally protected sanctuary pay for the salvage operation and environmental restoration.
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But corporations once listed of owners as the Key West-based casino boat have denied responsibility, saying the Lady Luck had changed hands around the time of the hurricanes. Usually the owner has a vested interest in recovering the boat, and we try to work out an agreement with the owner,” Score said. “In this case, [the recovery] could not be done cooperatively, so the legal case has been turned over to the Department of Justice.”
Monroe County’s Marine Resources Unit administers the project through a contract with DRC Emergency Services, an Alabama-based firm specializing in storm cleanup.
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Coffin Marine works as a subcontractor with DRC. One of the best things about this project is that NOAA stepped up and said local people can do this,” Coffin said. “The Keys are loaded with high-quality salvors so we’re using all local people and saving [the government] money.”
Five members of a crew now work at the site for 12 hours a day, every day. Three more will join the project to cut the metal apart. The Lady Luck is 28 feet wide and stands 20 feet tall. “We’re looking at 300,000 pounds of debris,” Coffin said. People will be amazed at how fast it comes apart,” Coffin said. “One of my biggest concerns is that people driving on U.S. 1 will have accidents while looking at it.”
Workers first cleaned out debris left by hurricane damage and squatters. “We have removed all the pollutants from the boat, and cut holes in the hull for light and ventilation while he work,” Coffin said. Two engines, each weighing three tons, have been removed. The engines are useable only as scrap, Coffin said. Raccoons with wrenches got in here are started taking parts off,” he said, referring to illegal salvage activities.
The ship plowed a 100-yard trench through the bottom to its resting spot. Coffin Marine specifically built a shallow-draft work barge that can use trench for access and removal. Knuckle booms” mounted on the barge lift the heavy pieces for transport. The 44-foot-long barge needs only 18 inches of water, Coffin said. Overall, we’re moving pieces day and night about 500 yards through shallow water,” Coffin said. “It’s a once-in-a-career type of project. We have a film crew that’s making a documentary.”
Work also is proceeding to free another Wilma casualty, the 158-foot yacht Legacy off Key West. Owner Peter Halmos is financing the effort to move the $30 million vessel from a flat to deeper water.
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