What's Going on Offshore?

Every week we set out to answer a question submitted by one of our readers as part of our column.

On Friday, we had a local resident write in with a question about two industrial ships that have been working off of Marblehead's causeway for the last few months.

They asked: For the past month, two industrial-type vessels have been parked on the horizon off our causeway.  At night I can see the bright lights from my window. I think one is a pirate mother ship and the other is drilling for oil off Tinker's Island. Of course, there may be a more mundane explanation such as pipeline or cable work. Please use your investigative journalism skills and tell your loyal readers what in the world they're doing out there. Thank you!

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Unfortunately, the answer isn't as exciting as the question. Local residents have no need to fear an attack from marauding pirates or an off-shore drilling project.

According to the US Coast Guard's Sector Boston office, the two ships stationed off of are the Tug Independence and the Gateway Endeavor.

The Gateway Endeavor is a 38-meter passenger boat that works around-the-clock to guard the LNG (liquefied natural gas) lines running into Boston. The lines, which are located about 15 miles off shore, are constantly checked and maintained.

According to the ship's Facebook page, the Gateway Endeavor "requires a crew of 3-4 members who work straight through the entire week in order to fulfill their duties. Because of the active whale population, the Gateway Endeavor must travel at about 10 knots, taking them nearly two hours to reach the Porta Port Northeast Gateway."

Assisting the Endeavor is the Tug Independence, which is a 128-foot offshore terminal tug which is "meant for the critical job of assisting LNG tankers," according to the Coast Guard. 

If you have a question for us, no matter how strange it may seem, let us know and we'll try to find the answers.