Ghost ship adrift for months ends up on Washington's Whidbey Island

CLINTON, Wash. (KOMO) - An apparently abandoned boat that had been reported adrift for months ended up on Whidbey Island in Washington.

Joe Smiley, of the state Department of Natural Resources, said crews are waiting for high tide to pull the boat off the beach.

He said the boat was reported floating around Port Townsend "a couple of months ago." That was the first report of the boat.

Larry Altose of the state Ecology Department said it got a first report of the boat adrift in Port Susan near the Tulalip Indian Reservation on Dec. 30. The Tulalip Police Department had checked on it early and determined that it didn't have fuel aboard. Since it wasn't a job for the Ecology Department's spill-response team, the derelict vessel program of the Natural Resources Department was contacted.

The fiberglass vessel, called Liberty, was built in 1980. It is 50 feet long and 12 feet wide. The 16-ton boat will be towed to Everett.