Though the bulk of the Enchantress was removed from Fidalgo Bay last week by Global Diving & Salvage and no evidence of the abandoned tug remains above the water line, the engine and part of the hull remain at the bottom.

Because the engine and keel attached to it weighed beyond what the company thought, it was not able to lift the pieces with the 115-ton capacity crane it operated from a barge, said Connie Thoman, environmental administrator with the Port of Anacortes. Even after modifications were made to the crane it still could not lift what was originally thought to weigh 110 tons.

The company is scheduled to return Nov. 17 when the tides will be favorable to get in a larger derrick crane with a capacity to lift 200 tons. Once the engine is out, the company will bring in a smaller crane and divers to pick up the remaining items on the bottom and complete a final reconnaissance survey, said John Herzog who is in charge of construction management for the port and Washington Department of Ecology.

The cleanup project was motivated by Ecology under the Puget Sound Initiative that aims to clean up Puget Sound by 2020. Ecology viewed the vessel as an environmental hazard due to contaminants it could release into the water and a navigational hazard if it broke up.

Global is being paid approximately $220,000 by the port, which will be reimbursed by Ecology and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources derelict vessel program. Additional funds were to go to dispose of asbestos on board the boat and more than $75,000 will go to additional costs and taxes.

Global began picking up the abandoned tug in pieces with the crane Sept. 23 as onlookers watched the project at the dead end of 34th Street and from the Tommy Thompson Trail that’s offered clear views of the tug since it was abandoned in 2000 by its owner Richard Carnes of Sedro-Woolley, who was later shot and killed.

Work was conducted during the in-water work window established by the state to minimize impacts to wildlife and protective booming was placed around the vessel to catch any floating debris, Herzog said. The material was placed on a barge and was taken to an approved hazardous waste landfill.

The port agreed to remove the 1944 U.S. Army tugboat earlier in the year, but delayed the project to give a community group the chance to come up with an alternative plan to get it out of the bay. The Save Our Shipwreck group led by local artist Bill Mitchell did not come up with a plan by the Aug. 15 deadline other than to leave the tug where it rested on the bottom of the bay.

Two pieces of wood from the bulwark with the name “Enchantress” and “U.S. Army” and the tug’s anchor were salvaged in the project Thoman said. The flag raised on the mast of the boat in recent months was also held by Global for Mitchell to pick up.