On August 30, 2020, about 2200 local time, the fishing tender barge SM 3 was anchored and riding out a storm with a crew of six in Nushagak Bay, 5 miles south of Ekuk, Alaska, when the barge broke free from the buoy and began drifting. The crew deployed two emergency anchors, but the barge continued to drift and grounded on the beach. The following morning, the crew evacuated the vessel and were picked up by locals. There was a 3 mile debris field on the beach. No injuries were reported. The barge was later salvaged. Damage to the vessel was estimated at $4.5 million.
The probable cause of the grounding of the fishing tender barge SM-3 was a fatigue crack in one of the mooring buoy's padeye welds, which resulted in the padeye separating from the buoy's spherical steel plating, causing the barge to break free from its buoy and anchors and drift ashore during a storm.
