Mystery ship hasn't moved in 12 days. Will it spend Christmas offshore of Treasure Coast?

Ed Killer, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·5 min read

"Dear Santa Claus, I write to you because I don't want toys this year; I just want my daddy here." ~ I Won't Be Home for Christmas, Hootie & The Blowfish

A drama is unfolding a few miles offshore of Round Island Beach Park. Since Dec. 8, an offshore supply ship has been anchored there in about 40 feet of water. The captain and crew of the L/B Jill have been stranded there waiting on the winter weather and waves to clear before resuming their voyage from New York to Louisiana.

To be clear, the crew is safe, well-provisioned and the situation is under control. However, their predicament raised a few questions, some of which await an answer from SeaCor Marine officials, owner of the industrial lift boat. Here are a few thoughts I had about their temporary stranding.

The offshore supply ship L/B Jill has been anchored offshore of Round Island Park in South Vero Beach since Dec. 8, 2023.
The offshore supply ship L/B Jill has been anchored offshore of Round Island Park in South Vero Beach since Dec. 8, 2023.

What were the L/B Jill's travel plans?

The industrial work vessel had been off Long Island, New York, where it worked for over a year to help install a wind farm for a New England-based energy company. It departed New York, where it probably provisioned, Nov. 29 en route to home port, Fourchon, Louisiana, according to VesselFinder.com.

It was supposed to traverse the 2,200-mile distance, through the Straits of Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico by Dec. 18, but got waylaid by bad weather. It may not be able to get underway until Tuesday or Wednesday, according to the Marine Weather Service.

What we know about L/B Jill

The vessel is:

  • Length — 177 feet

  • Width — 135 feet

  • Draft — 10 feet

  • Year built — 2014

  • Depth it can work in — 275 feet

  • Fuel — 74,672 gallons

  • Potable water — 112,012 gallons

  • Water makers — 24,000 gallons per day

  • Holding tank — 81,365 gallons

  • Crew — 12

Source: SeaCor Marine

Stranded for Christmas?

The voyage of the L/B Jill is unfolding like Homer's Greek epic, The Odyssey. Thanks to angering Poseidon, Odysseus was sent adventuring around the Mediterranean for a decade before being allowed by the god to go home again.

I'll bet the crew on the lift boat kind of feels the same way. Except in this version of the story, they're sitting still in one place for what will be at least three weeks. Maybe it's not like sailing through the Scylla and Charybdis, but I'll bet it still stinks.

I hope Santa Claus has L/B Jill's impromptu stop on his GPS this year. I'm sure the crew of up to 12, according to SeaCor Marine, will be checking in with family and friends via technology. The Wi-Fi is probably better than in most of our homes.

The L/B Jill has been anchored off Round Island in the Atlantic Ocean since Dec. 8, 2023. This photo was taken Dec. 19, 2023 by retired Miami Herald photographer Joe Rimkus of Vero Beach.
The L/B Jill has been anchored off Round Island in the Atlantic Ocean since Dec. 8, 2023. This photo was taken Dec. 19, 2023 by retired Miami Herald photographer Joe Rimkus of Vero Beach.

Is the crew allowed to leave the boat?

No, but let me explain.

The L/B Jill is at anchor, meaning it is suspended above the water line on its three "legs." It's about 2 miles off the beach, as I estimate from photos I've seen on Facebook.

The seas have been treacherous for more than a week now. I doubt there is any way to safely launch a watercraft from the vessel.

There is a helipad on the vessel, however. So in case there is some kind of emergency, medical or otherwise, there may be a way to help. Unless a helicopter can't land when the legs are up?

Will their food run out?

One of the questions I asked SeaCor was about the food and other supplies on the ship.

“The company plans for these sorts of delays and the vessel has plenty of provisions,” a spokesperson for SeaCor Marine answered to my email.

I'm sure they did. But are they dining on a steady diet of ramen and chipped beef? Have they been able to catch any fresh Spanish mackerel or mahi mahi while waiting for calm seas?

The ultimate tease? They are parked only a few miles from an ice cold beer at Waldo's or a freshly twisted mojito at Costa d'Este. I'm sure more than one crew member would eagerly trade his daily beans and rice for a Coquille St. Jacques from Ocean Grill or Bobby's signature Delmonico steak sandwich.

When underway, what can they expect?

This crew of men and women are used to a life of work while at sea. They'll leave their current position with little fanfare. Many of us won't notice; it just won't be there as a new day dawns.

As they get underway, some of the winter residents in the condominiums south of Round Island, all the way to Miami, I would imagine, will see it for the first time. Their queries will light up social media as they wonder what this mystery ship is and why it is offshore of their condo.

The L/B Jill will move south at a top speed of 6 knots — many of you jog faster than that. It still has nearly 1,000 miles to travel meaning if it doesn't stop again, it will still take about 7 days to reach the oil fields of the northern Gulf.

Meanwhile, during that time I think I'll stop by Waldo's. I'll raise an ice cold beer to the merchant mariners who live an often difficult, trying and labor-intensive life aboard a tiny unusual ship. Merry Christmas to the crew and I hope they have a safe journey.

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Ed Killer is an outdoors columnist with TCPalm. Email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Mystery ship likely to spend Christmas offshore of Treasure Coast