Leaky ship ends this class trip

A marine science trip came to a dramatic end Friday for 35 ninth-grade students when the tall ship they were sailing on began taking on water amid choppy seas and windy weather.

The schooner American Pride docked safely at its home port at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, but not before the U.S. Coast Guard responded with all available resources and was joined by crews from the Long Beach and Los Angeles fire departments.

No one on board was injured, but that didn’t make the experience less exciting.

“They are giddy over it,” Capt. Greg Clinton said of the students. “They want to go back out there.”

The schooner was returning from a five-day marine science boat trip to Catalina Island with the students and four adult chaperons from Pasadena’s Polytechnic School.

The ship was about halfway through its 4 1/2 -hour trip when water started coming into the vessel.

Clinton said a seam where two wooden planks meet on the 66-year-old ship likely gave way, causing the leak. He said high winds and 10- to 12-foot waves contributed to the problems. And soon about 1 1/2 feet of water filled the inside of the 130-foot-long boat, Clinton said.

“The water just got the best of us,” Clinton said.

One of the pumps onboard then failed and another could not keep up with incoming water, prompting the call to the Coast Guard.

A helicopter and multiple rescue boats were sent to meet the schooner, which was about 7 nautical miles from shore. Long Beach Fire Department’s rescue boat supplied the American Pride with a hose and helped the crew pump out water before escorting the ship to harbor.

The American Pride is a white, three-masted wooden schooner with red sails operated by the Children’s Maritime Foundation, an 11-year-old, nonprofit family-owned venture, said Clinton, a family member. The schooner is the company’s only ship, he said.

Clinton said the ship had a clean safety record, and all required safety gear was on board. Students were required to wear life jackets, he said.

“Stuff happens,” Clinton said. “We get stuck out in the weather like all boats. . . . It’s snotty weather.”

The ship was able to dock on its own just after 2:30 p.m. Shortly after, Coast Guard officials could be seen inspecting the ship’s hull.

By Friday evening, the Coast Guard had pinpointed the origin of the leak to the ship’s starboard, said Lt. Andrew Munoz, a Coast Guard spokesman. “It won’t be allowed to leave [port] until it . . . completes those repairs,” Munoz said.

The ship had inspection “deficiencies in the past” but had cleared its last inspection, he said. The ship’s wooden hull was probably stuffed with a cottony-material called oakum, which is tarred and sealed over, Munoz said, adding that the material probably came out. “Just from the movement of the ship, it’s an old vessel, and it will work itself out,” Munoz said. “Especially today, with the conditions out there.”

About three hours after the ship docked, about a dozen anxious parents were reunited with their sons and daughters in the Pasadena school’s parking lot.

Leslie Richard, 47, of Pasadena and mother of 15-year-old Jade, was grinning broadly. “Oh my God, I am just so relieved,” she said. “I saw it on the news and it looked pretty scary.”

Richard said a friend had called her after hearing about the incident on the radio, and then Richard turned on the news herself. By then, the students were safe, she said. “I’m very happy she’s home safely,” Richard said. “They had a great trip.”

Students at Polytechnic School, a private K-12 school, take yearly class trips starting in middle school. The ninth-grade marine science trip included fish dissections, kayaking and snorkeling, Clinton said.

A small-craft advisory was in effect Friday afternoon in L.A. coastal areas because of 6- to 8-foot swells and winds of up to 25 knots.

Three other boats requested Coast Guard help about the same time as the American Pride, Munoz said.

One, a 23-foot sailboat with two passengers, was heading to the mainland from Avalon when it started to take on water; it was safely escorted back to Avalon by Los Angeles County lifeguards.

The second vessel, a 32-foot boat with two passengers off Malibu, had a broken mast and had to be towed by L.A. County lifeguards to Marina del Rey.

A third boat was disabled in the San Pedro Channel between Catalina and Long Beach Harbor and had to be towed in by Long Beach Fire Department to Alamitos Bay.

“It was extremely choppy out there,” Munoz said, “even for some of our Coast Guard boats.”

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tami.abdollah@latimes.com