[Judy Patsch]

Of all the ill fated adventures the MQ suffered, this was undoubtedly the worst. On Dec. 12, 1985, she was downbound near Donaldsonville and was trying to make it past a bridge before fog set in. In overtaking the M/V CRIMSON GLORY in a bend, the CG's port stern corner hit the MQ near her sea chest, and she began to take on water. She was in over 80 feet of water at that point. Luckily there were harbor towboats around who pushed her up onto a sandbar, which is her location in these pictures taken by Roddy Hammett the next day. Never did the company ever say 'she sank', but her hull is sitting on the bottom of the river at that point, which I believe is the state of being 'sunk'. At any rate, she was towed to Avondale and was miraculously back in service within 4 months or so. For those not familiar with the MQ's hull, it was divided into very few sections, 7 I believe, and doors that could have been closed to stop the water flowing into more sections weren't closed because there were humans in those compartments and they would have been trapped. Compare the number of compartments to the NATCHEZ' 28 and the BELLE's 32! I wonder if there was ever any questioning by the Coast Guard about this relatively small number of compartments?