by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
The Florida Responder, an oil recovery vessel out of Miami, was moored along the banks of the St. Johns River early this week to evade category three Hurricane Wilma.
The Florida Responder arrived in Jacksonville at 4 p.m. Friday. The vessel left Tuesday for its return to Miami.
Docked outside the Landing, the vessel caught the attention of many passers-by. The 210-foot blue and white ship was accented with a bright orange contraption on the stern.
“That’s the biggest wet-vac you’ll ever see,” said Chief Mate and Relief Captain Remy Sampson.
That “wet-vac” is used to skim spilled oil in the ocean. The Florida Responder can house 4,000 barrels of recovered oil.
The Florida Responder is one of 15 oil spill response vessels controlled by the Marine Spill Recovery Corporation, an independent non-profit national spill response company formed in 1990. The company responds to oil spills of any size, shoreline cleanup, hazardous material spill response and response to spills outside the United States. MSRC expanded in 1999 to include response to non-spill emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, fires and other natural disasters.
The Florida Responder was called out to the Gulf between Katrina and Rita. It departed Miami Sept. 4, was on Lake Charles and through the Mississippi River and arrived back in Miami Oct. 14.
During Katrina and Rita the Florida Responder was one of seven boats to house those working around the clock to clean up the Gulf Coast.
“The ship served as what we call floatels,” said Judith Norell, spokeswoman for MSRC.
The ship can hold 38 people and can be out for 30 days.