Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsAmoco Cadiz was an oil tanker owned by Amoco Transport Corp and transporting crude oil for Shell Oil. Operating under the Liberian flag, she ran aground on 16 March 1978 on Portsall Rocks, Template:Convert from the coast of Brittany, France. Ultimately she split in three and sank, resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind to that date.<ref name="ctx"/><ref name="aukevisser">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Oil spillEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On 16 March 1978 in a southwesterly gale, the Amoco Cadiz passed Ushant at the western tip of Brittany, headed for Lyme Bay in the United Kingdom. At 9:46 am when the supertanker was north of Ushant and Template:Convert west of Portsall she turned to avoid another ship and her rudder jammed, full over to port. Captain Bardari shut down the engine and attempted to make repairs, but they were not successful. Meanwhile, the wind began blowing from the northwest, driving the ship toward the coast. By the time the tugboat Pacific successfully attached a hawser, it was 2:00 pm and the Amoco Cadiz had drifted Template:Convert closer to the shore. For two hours, the tugboat struggled to slow the vessel's drift, but then the towline parted. Captain Bardari turned his engines on full astern and this helped slow the ship's drift. At 7:00 pm, the captain shut down the engines so that the Pacific could try to attach another hawser. The supertanker dropped one anchor, but the flukes broke off. At this point the supertanker was drifting at Template:Convert toward the Portsall Rocks. A new towline was successfully attached at 8:55 pm.
Amoco Cadiz ran aground for the first time at 9:04 pm.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She rode a high wave over a spire of rock which she then was impaled on.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The rock cut through the plating of her bottom and thrust into the network of piping and machinery of the pump room as well as rupturing the rear wall of number-four cargo tank.<ref name=":0" /> The engine room flooded.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She rolled and ground on the rock for about five minutes until another large wave lifted her off and she continued her southwesterly drift, pulling the Pacific after her.<ref name=":0" />
The ship then drifted through the Portsall Rocks and at 9:30 pm she ran aground for the second time,<ref name=":0" /> on the Men Goulven rock Template:Cvt from the shore.<ref name=":0" /> She hit the reef stern first and the bottom under the engine room was opened.<ref name=":0" /> She pivoted round to the port and stopped with her bow pointing toward land.<ref name=":0" /> She came to rest with her stern impaled on a rock about 12 metres under the surface and her bow on another six to seven metres deep.<ref name=":0" /> Between these rocks the depth was 25 to 30 metres.<ref name=":0" /> The Pacific had increased her towing speed, but shortly after 10:00 pm the second tow broke.<ref name=":0" />
After the second grounding, the waves broke Amoco Cadiz into two parts held together by distorted metal on the port side.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> On 24 March the two parts were completely torn apart and the rear section swung 90 degrees around from pointing southwest to southeast.<ref name=":1" /> On 25 March she was close to breaking apart again, and by 28 March the wreckage was further moved around by the tides and waves.<ref name=":1" />
By 29 March she had broken into three separate pieces and it was decided to destroy her with depth charges dropped from three Super Frelon helicopters.<ref name=":1" /> The Navy dropped twelve Mark 56 anti-submarine grenades, each containing Template:Cvt of high explosives set to go off Template:Cvt under water, and she sank 15 minutes later.<ref name=":1" /> Detonation of the charges was visible as huge water fountains and shook the ground ashore more than a mile away.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref><ref name=ness>Template:Cite book Alt URL</ref><ref name="pandora"/>
Amoco Cadiz contained 1,604,500 barrels (219,797 tons) of light crude oil from Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia and Kharg Island, Iran.<ref name="pandora">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Severe weather resulted in the complete breakup of the ship before any oil could be pumped out of the wreck, resulting in her entire cargo of crude oil (belonging to Shell) and 4,000 tons of fuel oil being spilled into the sea.<ref name="Helgoland Marine Research">Template:Cite journal</ref> The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 tonnes of oil.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AftermathEdit
In 1988 a U.S. federal judge ordered Amoco Oil Corporation to pay $85.2 million in fines; $45 million for the costs of the spill and $39 million in interest.<ref name="pandora"/> In 1992, Amoco agreed to pay $230 million (equivalent to $Template:Inflationm in Template:Inflation/year).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The wreck is now frequently visited by leisure divers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- Template:SS – nearby and similar oil spill disaster in 1967
- Template:Ship – formerly Amoco Milford Haven, sister ship of Amoco Cadiz, that sank causing an oil spill disaster in 1991
- List of environment topics
- List of oil spills