Shell drill ship runs aground in Unalaska [View all]

A Shell drilling ship drifted while anchored in Dutch Harbor on Saturday and may have struck land before tug boats pulled it away from a beach, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is trying to determine why the Noble Discoverer's anchor slipped and whether the 571-foot vessel ran aground. Shell said the ship came "very near" land. Residents said its stern hit rocks before the vessel was towed off.

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"It was on land," Laxfoss said in a telephone interview Saturday night. "It was as far as it could go ... it could not have gone any farther unless it turned and gone broadside."

Laxfoss snapped photos and watched, worried that the ship would turn parallel to the waves and shore. A local tugboat, the Saratoga, ran the ship's line out to a larger tug that pulled it away, he said.

"Thank god it only had the stern up on the rocks, and thank god that first tug boat got him out and got him out quick," Laxfoss said. "They were good."

"They were lucky, very lucky," he added.

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