A 72-foot ship illegally moored in the Ala Wai boat harbor has met its fate not in Davy Jones’ locker, but crushed and dumped in the Waiʻanae landfill after it was impounded by the state last month at taxpayers’ expense.
The former salmon boat, converted to a pirate-themed party boat in its last years, is the latest in a list of an estimated 375 wrecks and ghost ships that have been grounded, sunk or abandoned in state waters since 2002.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources said it will try to recover the costs from the legal owners, as the law allows, according to spokesman Andrew Laurence. But it’s more likely that taxpayers, including other boat owners, will be the ones picking up the as-yet-unknown tab for scrapping the vessel…