My wife and I just returned from a cruise to Charleston SC. Along the
way back, we were transiting the ICW from South Carolina past Sunset
Beach, Shallotte, Lockwood's Folly, etc. A rather disturbing incident
took place at Shallotte.

As we rounded the bend east from the inlet and across from the town
docks, we were followed closely by a lot of snowbird traffic and a
barge. At the bend, anchored right in the middle of the ICW channel, was
a small center console fishing boat with three guys in it. They all had
lines down and clearly were paying no attention whatever.

As we passed by rather close, they looked up, aggravated. I certainly
wasn't going to run my vessel aground for their sake, but I did think
I'd do them a favor by warning them what was coming. "There's a lot of
traffic behind us, including a big barge. They are heavily loaded and
you are right in the channel," I called to them. They simply looked mad
at us and returned to their fishing. I then made a security call on
Channel 16 to warn the boats behind us, since the guys fishing made no
effort to move.

We watched astern to see what happened. The other boats scattered,
passing the fishermen quite close on both sides. I'm sure by this time
they were getting the idea, but as far as I could see they made no
effort to move. Then the barge came around the bend. For those who have
never seen a commercial barge, they have wide square bows which form a
wedge down into the water. Getting run over by one leaves you no chance
of survival.

The barge skipper swerved to avoid the center console fishing boat. The
push boat heeled as her prop dug into the sand at the edge of the
channel, then the barge itself caught and the whole tow was stuck
aground. The boats behind the barge were stuck in a blocked channel.

We heard calls on channel 16 for at least an hour afterward.

I hope that none of the people here were in that fishing boat. I also
hope that this will be a lesson to some of those who don't already know
not to anchor in a channel.

Fair Skies
Doug King