By KAREN LAGRANGE COX
UPDATE – July 23, 2024
In April 2024, a buoy manufactured by Wet Tech Energy in Maurice, Louisiana, washed ashore at Seafield Ballymoney in Ireland. At the time, Owen J Dunbar of Wexford, Ireland, contacted BY Local News to tell the story of the buoy’s washing ashore so far away from its mooring.
Dunbar provided an update on the buoy on June 17, 2024, on his Facebook page, “As for the buoy, last I heard, Wexford County Council via the Harbour Master were dealing with it as there seems to be no local interest in keeping it as a curiosity or visitor attraction. It’s not every storm that a buoy from the Gulf of Mexico washes up on our sandy shores.“
The following article, written by Peter Goulding, appeared in the LAMP, the Journal Association of Lighthouse Keepers, Issue 140 Summer 2024. Used with permission.
UPDATE – April 11, 2024
Last week, a buoy manufactured in 2005 by Wet Tech Energy, Inc. of Maurice, Louisiana, washed ashore in Seafield Ballymoney in Ireland. The buoy was manufactured for Wet Tech’s customer and moored in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico in 2006 for that customer.
By 2007, the buoy was no longer where it was moored, which was probably due to weather conditions. When the buoy washed ashore in Ireland, Wet Tech learned the fate of the bouy’s seventeen-year journey.
Owen Dunbar of Wexford, Ireland, contacted Wet Tech and BY Local News (BYLN) to inform both of the buoy’s landing onshore in Seafield Ballymoney. Since then, Dunbar notified BYLN that a storm had hit the area, pushing the buoy a little further onshore.
BYLN met with Todd Carl, operations manager, and Paul Anderson, vice president of operations at Wet Tech. Anderson informs BYLN that this morning, he received a request from Aidan Bates, a dedicated marine officer with the Wexford coastline, who is working to move the buoy. Bates has requested a drawing of the buoy to know where the lifting eyes are, a crucial detail for the removal process.
ORIGINAL – April 4, 2024
According to Owen J Dunbar of Wexford, Ireland, a large metal buoy washed ashore at Seafield Ballymoney this week. Dunbar contacted BY Local News to tell the story of the buoy’s landing so far away from its mooring.
After Dunbar came across the buoy and found the name of the buoy’s manufacturer, Wet Tech Energy of Maurice, Lousiana (the company was located in Lafayette when the buoy was manufactured), he emailed the company’s operations manager, Todd Carl, to tell him of the buoy coming onshore in Ireland. Carl confirmed the buoy was theirs. The Wet Tech buoy was manufactured in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, it was moored in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico as a marker on a downed oil platform caused by Hurricane Katrina. According to Dunbar, Carl thinks the buoy broke its mooring in 2007.
The buoy has drifted for seventeen years before washing up at Seafield Ballymoney Co Wexford. It likely got caught in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic drift, which sent it across the ocean towards Ireland.
Dunbar said, “The locals here are hoping that they will be allowed by the County Council to keep it and display it a prominent position near the village with it’s travel story displayed.”
BY Local News spoke with Carl, who confirmed the buoy’s identity is theirs.
Listen to a podcast with Dunbar talking about the buoy >>
Owen J Dunbar provided these photos. Owen, and his wife, are by the buoy. Click on the photos for a larger view.
