TACOMA, Wash. — Quick Facts:
- Helena Star seized in 1978 with $75 million worth pot on board
- Sat in Port of Tacoma for more than 30 years
- Sank in Jan. 2013
- Was towed to Seattle to be cut up for scrap
A year and a half after it sank in the Port of Tacoma, a notorious drug-smuggling ship made its final voyage Thursday.
The Helena Star was towed from the Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma to a shipyard in Seattle to be scrapped.
Because the decrepit ship is so fragile, it took about four and a half hours to slowly tow it to Seattle so it wouldn't fall apart in transit.
The rusty ship passed through the Ballard Locks.
Holes in the hull were patched, and after a failed attempt to raise the ship last fall, the state Department of Natural Resources said the Dutch-built freighter was ready to make the trip.
In 1978, the U.S. Coast Guard seized the ship off the coast of Washington with $75 million worth of marijuana on board.
For three and a half decades it sat in the Port of Tacoma, before finally sinking in January 2013, spilling 640 gallons of diesel and oil into the Tacoma waterway.
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