Freighter Pilot Faulted In Grounding

TACOMA - The American pilot of a Russian freighter that ran aground on Anderson Island on Sept. 5 failed to keep track of the ship's position, a Coast Guard investigation found.

Thomas J. Goodin should be subject to a civil-penalty investigation, and the state Pilotage Commission should consider punishing him, the report said. A licensed Puget Sound pilot since early 1980s, Goodin has an otherwise unblemished record.

In addition, the report recommended that Russian authorities consider disciplining Evgeniy Kurzin, the vessel's chief mate, who was the senior officer on the ship's bridge at the time.

The 580-foot Monchegorsk was headed from Olympia to Petropavlovsk, Russia, with a load of cargo when it turned into Amsterdam Bay and got stuck on sand and mud on the southwest corner of Anderson Island, west of Tacoma. Tugboats freed it the next

morning.