Whatever happened to ... the bundle of wood hit by a cruise ship?

Remember the huge bundle of wood, shaped like a whale, that punched a hole in the Spirit of Nantucket as it cruised down the Intracoastal Waterway last fall?

After an investigation, the Army Corps of Engineers has concluded it was either a "target" or a "camel," discarded in the area between 1935 and 1951. The 55-ton bundle, held together by large spikes, was either towed behind vessels as a target platform, or it served as a camel, a type of floating fender, to protect vessels from damage at a pier.

"Some of the drawings we found call it a target," said Joel Scussel, Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers. "Some people have called it a camel."

The research showed that debris of this type, and the wrecks of wooden barges, were disposed of in a series of horseshoe-shaped areas off the federal channel of the North Landing River portion of the waterway, near the Pungo Ferry Bridge.

In addition, Scussel said, the corps discovered that the river experienced a dramatic drop in water level the weekend before the collision.

He said Noel, a hurricane that dropped to a nontropical storm when it passed the area, had sucked 3.1 feet of water out of the North Landing River. That's about 10 times the normal tidal fluctuation.

The experts guess that when all that water ran out of the area, it caused the debris to break free. Turbulence caused by passing barges likely helped it make its way into the center of the channel, where the Spirit of Nantucket ran into it about 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 8.

No one was hurt, but the ship had to end its 10-day cruise between Alexandria and Charleston, S.C., so a foot-long gash in its hull could be patched.

The Corps of Engineers, which maintains the Intracoastal Waterway, contracted with Crofton Industries of Portsmouth to find and remove the obstruction. Crofton pulled the huge bundle of wood out of the river and eventually used a concrete breaking machine to chip it up. The scraps were sent to a landfill that accepts marine debris, according to Shawn Albin, a project manager.

The corps has surveyed other abandoned debris and vessels in the area and is looking for money to have them removed or to put up barricades to prevent a recurrence.

The research didn't show who originally disposed of the materials in the area, Scussel said. Now that corps officials know about the potential hazards, he said, they will keep tabs on them, especially after any storms pass.

He asked that boaters who notice waterway obstructions make a report to the corps, which will investigate and remove them. There's a 24-hour hot line, 672-1835, or you can e-mail Steven.R.Baum@ usace.army.mil.

Tony Germanotta, (757) 222-5113, tony.germanotta@pilotonline.com