Fun with Boats: Sunken Red Hook Barges

This is one of the two barges that sank at the Ikea site in Red Hook recently. The Coast Guard writes that the barge pictured here, "which allegedly broke free from its mooring and may have struck the SEI 12, outfitted with an excavator crane, was used to remove steel from the demolition of a non-commercial pier in the Erie Basin." (Our own theory is that the barges were put together with those special Ikea screws that can only be tightened with that L-shaped Ikea tool and the construction guys got frustrated and left some of the loose.) Other pictures of the Ikea-related sinkage can be found here and here. (The sinkings are not to be confused with the theft of one of the retailer's big tools.) For the real hardcore Red Hook Ikea obsessive, the photo above can be sent as an e-card by clicking here. Go figure.