1979 — Nov 1, tanker Burmah Agate collides with freighter Mimosa, off Galveston, TX– 32
— 32 Center for Tankship Excellence. Burmah Agate.
— 32 NFPA. “Recent Multi-Fatality Fires.” In: U.S. Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires.
— 32 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 140.
— 31 United States Coast Guard. Air Station Houston, Texas.
Narrative Information
CTE: “On the morning of November 1, 1979, the Burmah Agate and the Mimosa collided at the entrance to Galveston Harbor. The Mimosa struck the Burmah Agate on its starboard side, tearing an 8 by 15 foot hole in the hull near Cargo Tank No. 5. An explosion occurred upon impact, and the leaking oil ignited. The USCG immediately dispatched the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant to begin search and rescue operations. By 1230 all 26 crew members of the Mimosa had been found, but only 6 of the Burmah Agate’s 37 crew members were accounted for.
Admiral Loy (quoted in CTE): “….Just before 0530 the next morning [after getting into port], my phone rang. The M/T Burmah Agate, inbound with a full load of fuel, both bunkers and cargo, had collided with the outbound freighter Mimosa just outside the Galveston Bay Entrance Channel. Valiant was underway within an hour to assume the role of On Scene Commander.
“The first 24 hours demanded frantic action to save lives and prevent the disaster from escalating. When Valiant arrived, the Burmah Agate lay aground, its superstructure aft completely engulfed in flames with other fires raging along its starboard side and on its forecastle. The Mimosa was also ablaze, but it was making way, not under command, carving huge circles about her starboard anchor, which she had somehow managed to drop. Then-Captain, now retired Rear Admiral, Dave Ciancaglini and two other aircraft commanders led heroic helicopter crews on sortie after sortie to rescue crewmen from the burning decks. The disaster had already killed more than thirty sailors. It promised to get much worse as the slowly circling Mimosa worked its way across the buoyed channel, heading inexorably toward a field of active and capped gas pipes and other anchored shipping.
“We got our Rescue and Assistance team aboard the Mimosa, but they could not stop its movement: up forward, the port anchor was frozen in place; back aft, the intensity of the fire kept them from reaching the emergency cut-off valves that would have denied fuel to the engines. Finally, just as we prepared to interpose Valiant between the Mimosa and further disaster, the combined efforts of a commercial tug and Group Galveston small boats succeeded in fouling her screw, and stopping the burning ship. One disaster was averted, but we still had two ships on fire, one loaded with 400,000 barrels of oil. It took six weeks for the fire on Burmah Agate to burn itself out, and the work to clean the beaches of Galveston Island lasted until Christmas.” (Loy, Admiral James M.. State of the Coast Guard Address. Andrews Air Force Base, MD, 5-4-1999.)
USCG: “…in November the Burmah Agate, a tanker carrying 16 million gallons of oil, collided with the freighter Mimosa off Galveston. The air station’s helicopters rescued 27 crewmen from the burning vessels and flew more than 115.6 hours searching for the 31 missing crewmen and on pollution over-flights. The Burmah Agate burned for 69 days.” (USCG. Air Station Houston TX.)
Sources
Center for Tankship Excellence. Burmah Agate. Accessed 7-18-2017 at: http://www.c4tx.org/ctx/job/cdb/precis.php5?key=19791101_001
Loy, Admiral James M.. State of the Coast Guard Address. Andrews Air Force Base, MD, 5-4-1999. in Center for Tankship Excellence. Burmah Agate.
National Fire Protection Association. “Recent Multi-Fatality Fires.” In: U.S. Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing, March 9, 1981), pp. 71-73.
National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.
United States Coast Guard. Air Station Houston, Texas. Accessed 4-25-2009 at: http://www.uscg.mil/history/stations/airsta_houston.asp