April 15, 2021
Crews working to cut up and remove sections of the Golden Ray shipwreck in St. Simons Sound, Georgia have restarted cutting operations on “Section Seven” after the cutting chain broke on two separate occasions over the last week.
The St. Simons Sounds Incident Response says joining links in the cutting chain failed on April 7 and again on April 12, but divers and personnel aboard the VB-10000 have now reconnected the chain, allowing the cutting of the section to continue.
Responders replaced larger profile joining links with slimmer Kenter joining links which are expected to optimize the cutting system. Meanwhile, wreck removal supervisors continue to perform routine inspections of the cutting apparatus and recommend equipment maintenance or replacement as needed.