Tankers collide in the Carribbean

[John Arton]

On this day in 1979 the loaded supertankers, Atlantic Empress and Aegean Captain collided in the Carribbean near little Tobago. 26 crew members were killed and some 280,000 tons of crude oil spilt into the sea. To this day, I think, this is the only case of two loaded supertankers colliding.
Rgds
J.A.

[Graham Shaw]

On this day in 1979 the loaded supertankers, Atlantic Empress and Aegean Captain collided in the Carribbean near little Tobago. 26 crew members were killed and some 280,000 tons of crude oil spilt into the sea. To this day, I think, this is the only case of two loaded supertankers colliding.
Rgds
J.A.

You're probably right about them being the only two loaded supertankers colliding John ,though slightly smaller ones have done so,remembering of course that back in the day,say in the 50's and early 60's even 50,000 to 100,000 tonners were considered 'supertankers' compared with what had been built previously.

I remember studying one such collision that happened in my early years at sea,here off our British coast in October 1970. There was the risk of a total 170,000 tons of crude oil to be spilt,making it potentially the worst disaster since Torrey Canyon in 1967.Mercifully in the event 'only' about 3,500 tons were spilt,and the Isle of Wight tourist beaches were safe,although some slicks did beach further along the Sussex coast.

The two tankers came together about 6 miles off St.Catherine's Point,IoW,at about 2030 hours on October 23rd,1970.They were the PACIFIC GLORY, a Liberian motor tanker with 70,000 tons of Nigerian crude from Bonny to Rotterdam,and the ALLEGRO ,a Liberian steam tanker carrying 100,000 tons of Libyan crude from Marsa el Brega to Fawley. The Allegro was not holed and managed to make it into Fawley without leakage, but explosions after the collision aboard Pacific Glory caused breaches in her hull,and sadly 13 of her 42 crew members died.
There were valiant efforts in extinguishing the fires including 25 City of Portsmouth firemen who were landed on her. She grounded but the vast majority of her oil was off loaded into a Shell tanker,the Halia, and Pacific Glory was later towed to Rotterdam to discharge the remainder. She was declared a constructive total loss.


Graham

[Keith Tindell]

I remember it well Graham, i was in the Fire Service at that time, but Hampshire who were also involved, in fact the fire services were awarded part of the salvage money to recover the expense and equipment involved. Portsmouth fire Brigade had a salvage plan arranged for this type of event many years previous, Hampshire did not have any plan for salvage in operation, but all stations received sports equipment ,and the expenses incurred, kt

[Keith Tindell]

The Southampton fire boat, fireboat 39, also set out to attend the pacific Glory, but bearing in mind she was designed for Southampton Waters and the Solent, and was very shallow draft to enable her to creep up to the mudbanks etc, so due to the seas running at that time, got as far as the Needles and had to turn back, kt

[Graham Shaw]

Thanks for those interesting replies gentlemen.

I have after a lengthy search,which was no bad thing because that offce annexe needed a good sorting out(!) found further notes on the Pacific Glory/Allegro incident which might be of interest.


Impact and compensation :-
Thanks to the rapidity of the response operations, the incident did not cause too much damage on the shoreline and very few oiled birds were found. Compensation for response costs and economic impact, paid by the TOVALOP fund, amounted to £330,000.These are 1970's figures it should be remembered. It would surely be many millions today
[TOVALOP stands for Tanker Owners Voluntary Agreement concerning Liability for Oil Pollution.]


Another Account:-
[The luckiest escape that the Island's shores have ever had from a shipwreck was that of the 43,000 ton Liberian super-tanker Pacific Glory,(Oceanic Tankers Inc LBR Monrovia)
which carried a crew of 42 and 70,000 gallons of African crude oil.
At 9pm on Friday October 23rd 1970, the massive Pacific Glory was travelling up the Channel headed for Rotterdam,
and was about 6 miles off St. Catherine's Point when the 46,000 ton tanker Allegro(ALLEGRO Marsa el Brega to Fawley) veered straight towards them to avoid collision with a third ship. The tankers were so vast that, without a spare mile to manoeuvre in, it was impossible for the collision to be avoided, despite attempts to change course and the engines stopping, the Allegro's bow ploughed into the Pacific Glory's side. The Allegro continued to Fawley near Southampton, where she was placed under arrest.
The Pacific Glory then drifted slowly towards Ventnor as the collision had cut through the fuel pipes to the engine room. At 10:30 the escaping fuel exploded, killing 5 in an 80 foot sheet of flame that spread through the decks and caused further explosions. Oil began leaking from the starboard side of the ship, igniting on the sea below. The remaining crew abandoned ship by jumping into the sea, many to be burnt in the fires over the waves. By this time, 13 men had perished.
At 11pm the fiery inferno was 3 miles off Ventnor as fire-fighting tugs from Fawley arrived on the scene, along with Royal Navy ships, the Island's lifeboats, hovercraft and helicopters taking part in "Operation Solfire", rescuing the 29 survivors, who were rushed to Haslar Naval Hospital suffering from severe burns and swallowed oil. During the night the tugs managed to put out the water on the sea and struggled to put out the fire onboard.
The Pacific Glory was then headed to Sandown Bay by several tugs, hoping to ground her in the Nab Shoal near the Nab Tower as her stern began to sink beneath the waves.
Then the fire broke out again as a thick cloud of smoke rose several miles high, and the ship was abandoned one mile off Dunnose Point. Sandown Bay, the busiest on the Island with its 5 miles of pure, golden sand was in danger. 500 men gathered on the bay armed with 8,000 gallons of detergent, with the coastguard and RSPCA patrolling the beaches. Oil slicks began pouring from the Pacific Glory, but fortunately ships spraying detergent near the wreck prevented them from conglomerating and threatening the shore. The firemen onboard fought with the blaze all through Saturday and Sunday, and by Sunday afternoon it seemed the danger had passed.
When everyone was beginning to feel relief, a new danger arose when the wind rose to a force 8 gale. One of the ships near the wreck, the Beaulieu containing 40 reporters, almost went down, saved only by HMS Zulu. The tug Harry Sharman was forced by the gale straight into the base of Culver Cliff. Despite this, the Pacific Glory remained in one piece, and on Monday Morning newspaper headlines declared her "The Ship That Would Not Die".
That morning members of the Portsmouth Fire Brigade boarded her and finally extinguished the fire. The ship was then handed over to a salvage team, and from Thursday the oil was pumped out from her into smaller tankers alongside.
The biggest danger to the Island's shores was over.]

[Tony Taylor]

You're probably right about them being the only two loaded supertankers colliding John ,though slightly smaller ones have done so,remembering of course that back in the day,say in the 50's and early 60's even 50,000 to 100,000 tonners were considered 'supertankers' compared with what had been built previously.

I remember studying one such collision that happened in my early years at sea,here off our British coast in October 1970. There was the risk of a total 170,000 tons of crude oil to be spilt,making it potentially the worst disaster since Torrey Canyon in 1967.Mercifully in the event 'only' about 3,500 tons were spilt,and the Isle of Wight tourist beaches were safe,although some slicks did beach further along the Sussex coast.

The two tankers came together about 6 miles off St.Catherine's Point,IoW,at about 2030 hours on October 23rd,1970.They were the PACIFIC GLORY, a Liberian motor tanker with 70,000 tons of Nigerian crude from Bonny to Rotterdam,and the ALLEGRO ,a Liberian steam tanker carrying 100,000 tons of Libyan crude from Marsa el Brega to Fawley. The Allegro was not holed and managed to make it into Fawley without leakage, but explosions after the collision aboard Pacific Glory caused breaches in her hull,and sadly 13 of her 42 crew members died.
There were valiant efforts in extinguishing the fires including 25 City of Portsmouth firemen who were landed on her. She grounded but the vast majority of her oil was off loaded into a Shell tanker,the Halia, and Pacific Glory was later towed to Rotterdam to discharge the remainder. She was declared a constructive total loss.


Graham

i believe it was Pacific Glory where the generators self destructed running out of control fuelled by gas from cargo

[robpage]

I thought the Pacific Glory was a conventional Supertanker , so do not follow the use of cargo gas , was this extracted from the tanks