1982 — Feb 15, Storm, Ocean Ranger Oil Rig Sinks, Grand Banks, Canada        –84 (15 US)

—              84  Bea. “Men, ships and the sea.” Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council, 1995.

–14US of 84  NYT (Giniger). “Hope Fades for 84 on Rig; 18 on Soviet Freighter…” 2-17-1982.

–15US of 84  Smith, Ken. A History of Disaster… in Atlantic Canada.  2008. p. 174.

—              84  USCG.  Marine Casualty Report.  Mobile…Ocean Ranger…15 Feb 1982. 1983.

Narrative Information

Bea: “On the night of February 15, 1982, the floating offshore drilling unit Ocean Ranger was operating in about 260 feet of water about 166 miles east of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Heavy seas produced waves up to 40 feet high and winds were gusting up to 90 knots. Drilling operations were suspended.

“About 7 p.m., spray from a large wave broke a portlight in the ballast control room, causing an electrical malfunction. The storm caused a 10- to 15-degree list and liquids were accidentally transferred in the ballast tanks by the malfunctioning control system. The master and crew of the Ocean Ranger apparently did not understand the operation of the complex ballast control system and were unable to manually correct the listing. The operations manual did not provide adequate guidance, and the drilling unit slowly continued to turn over.

“Although the Ocean Ranger’s upper hull was watertight, there were large openings to the chain lockers in each comer column. The lockers store chain to moor the system. As the unit continued to list, the chain lockers were filled by the waves and the Ocean Ranger capsized and began to sink.

“At 1 a.m. the next morning, emergency rescue aircraft and boats were dispatched to the scene. However, due to the severe storm, the aircraft could do little except direct the rescue boats to the site. The crewmen donned life jackets, but there were no exposure suits for protection against the cold 31° F water. Those aboard the Ocean Ranger who escaped into the water were quickly immobilized and died from hypothermia before they could be picked up by standby boats.

“The one life boat that could be launched capsized alongside a rescue boat when water entered a hole in the bow and everyone moved to one side. The stand-by vessels did not have adequate equipment to recover survivors under the adverse weather conditions.

“Nine hours after the portlight was broken, the Ocean Ranger sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. All 84 crew members perished….” (Bea, Robert. “Men, ships and the sea.” Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council (USCG). Vol. 52, No. 3, May-June, 1995, p. 4.)

Smith: “The Ocean Ranger, a $124-million behemoth, was the pride of the offshore oil industry. The massive semi-submersible oil-drilling platform was the largest of its time and was considered, with its sophisticated ballast system and state-of-the-art control room, to be the most modern of its kind. Venturing into waters considered too dangerous for lesser rigs…the rig was, in fact, considered unsinkable.

“Built by the Mitsubishi Company in Japan in 1976, by 1980 the rig was under contract to Mobil Oil Canada. In November of that year it was taken to the Hibernia Oilfield on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, about 200 miles east of St. John’s….

“On February 14, 1982, the rotation crew on the Ranger numbered eighty-four men, including fifteen Americans. The rest were Canadians… [one was British]

“By 6:00 PM, the storm raged over the Ocean Ranger, with towering hundred-foot seas and ninety-knot winds…. The storm’s ‘rogue waves’ were reaching and crashing on to the rig’s high upper deck. As a precaution, the crew decided to try and detach the drilling platform front the main deck hut were unable to do so, Around 7:00 PM, an especially large wave broke over the ballast control room, smashing a porthole window. The amount of water let in by the wave shorted out some sensitive electrical equipment that monitored the ballast balance. Some flooding occurred, causing a list of about ten degrees. Several shorted out relays were quickly removed, dried, and reinserted. Again they shorted out. The listing remained.

“There were no written instructions on how to deal with ballast emergencies, just advice passed on from crew to crew by word of mouth. It was decided to even the balance by pumping water out of one ballast tank. Here, the fatal mistake was made: instead of pumping water out of the flooded ballast, water was accidentally pumped in, increasing the list to a precarious fifteen degrees.

“Around 1:00 AM, the Ocean Ranger radioed the shore base at St. John’s requesting the supply ship to standby. Ten minutes later a frantic SOS was sent out, requesting help to get the crew off the rig because they were worried it might go over, At 1:30 AM, in their last radio message, the crew signaled that they were going to lifeboats, That was the last anyone heard from the Ocean Ranger. At 3:30 AM, search and rescue ships were stunned to watch the rig disappear from their radar screens.

“In their panic, several of the crew got washed off the deck or were blown overboard by the tremendous winds, Several others, confused and fearful, simply leapt over the side into the frigid Atlantic instead of getting into the lifeboats and soon perished. Even the lifeboats were no match for the raging storm: in the ninety-mile-per-hour gale, they just flipped over, dumping the desperate men into the freezing waters. There were not enough survival suits for everyone and those who wore them did not last much longer that the others. Those who attempted to stay afloat by swimming or hanging on to flotsam succumbed in moments.

“Rescue ships and a helicopter arrived at the scene at around 2:00 AM.  Men were spotted in the water and in a lifeboat, but the rescue ship and chopper could not manoeuvre close enough to pick the men up. Rescue lines were thrown and at one point the men in the raft made desperate lunges to grab the rope. They couldn’t hang on, and the raft upset, throwing the terrified crewmen to their fate, Another large inflatable rescue raft was thrown out to the drowning victims, but by now overcome by the numbing cold, the hapless oilmen could not reach it in time. Grappling hooks and long poles were also tried, in hopes of grabbing a piece of clothing, but to no avail. To the anguish and heartbreak of their would-he rescuers, the doomed crewmen eventually disappeared forever into the icy depths of the Atlantic. At 3:38 PM the Ocean Ranger sank, following its men to a watery grave. All eighty-four crewmembers perished, though only twenty-two bodies were recovered.

“The Canadian government immediately launched a full inquiry into the disaster, After an exhaustive two-year study of all aspects of the Ocean Ranger tragedy, the Royal Commission released its report on the sinking. In it the commission concluded that a number of factors combined to seal the fate of the drilling rig, including serious design flaws in its ballast structure, Perhaps more important was the conclusion that the crews were poorly trained in safety and emergency preparedness. The Ocean Ranger may well have survived if its ballast room operator had been better trained. As it was, even the senior operator had only completed half his training. The commission also noted that the survival gear was not adequate for the harsh Atlantic Ocean environment.

“As a result of the inquiry, several new federal government regulations were implemented and monitoring hoards were established to oversee the Canadian offshore oil industry, Proof of competency, stringent training requirements, and modernized and suitable life-saving equipment would all help ensure that a disaster as terrible as that which befell the Ocean Ranger not happen again.”  (Smith, Ken.  A History of Disaster… in Atlantic Canada.  2008. p. 174-178.)

Newspaper

Feb 16, New York Times: “St. John’s, Newfoundland, Feb 16 — Planes and ships searched in vain today for survivors among the 84 men who were aboard an oil-drilling rig that listed and sank in a storm off Newfoundland on Monday [Feb 15]. Government and oil company officials abandoned almost all hope that anyone was still alive in what appeared to be a disaster second only to the loss of 123 people aboard the Norwegian drilling platform Alexander L. Kielland when it capsized in the North Sea in March 1980….

“…a few lifeboats and life rafts have been spotted, but only one body has been recovered. Some life vests were also seen by searchers four miles from one life raft. The only traces of the huge rig, described by its owner, the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company of New Orleans, as the world’s largest semisubmersible drilling platform, were some buoys.

 

“After notifying relatives, Mobil Oil of Canada, the principal operator in the potentially rich Hibernia oilfield, issued a list of 83 names with their places of origin. One was withheld at the request of the family. There were 14 men from the United States; 54 from Newfoundland; 13 from other parts of Canada; one from Britain, Peter Fogg of Lincoln, England, and one man, Robert Hicks, whose origin was described as unknown. Victims From the U.S.

“Those listed as from the United States were Thomas Blevins of Plainfield, Conn.; Thomas Donlon of Sumter, S.C.; Lelon Droddy of Corrington, La.; William Dugas of Abbiville, La.; Randell Ferguson of Natchez, Miss.; George Gandy of Longstreet, La.; Reginald Gorum of El Paso; Capt. Clarence Hauss of Baltimore; Willie Powell of Franklinton, La.; Donald Rathbun of Narragansett, R.I.; William Smith of Valley Station, Ky.; Benjamin Kent Thompson of Winnsbord, La.; Gerald Vaughn of Collins, Miss., and Michael Watkin of New Orleans….

“The platform was built at the Mitsubishi Shipyards in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1976, and measured 398 feet long and 337 feet high, including the drilling derrick. It was built for ”severe environments” and deep waters, according to its owner, the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company. It had been in the waters off Newfoundland for a year and a half and at its present site, a well called J-34, about 175 miles east of St. John’s, since last November….” (NYT/Giniger. “Hope Fades for 84 on Rig; 18 on Soviet Freighter Die.” 2-17-1982.)

Sources

Bea, Robert. “Men, ships and the sea.” Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council, Vol. 52, No. 3, May-June, 1995, pp. 3-7. U.S. Department of Transportation, United States Coast Guard. Accessed 4-21-2017 at: https://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/archive/1995/Vol52_No3_May-Jun1995.pdf

New York Times (Henry Giniger). “Hope Fades for 84 on Rig; 18 on Soviet Freighter Die.” 2-17-1982. Accessed 4-21-2017 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/17/world/hope-fades-for-84-on-rig-18-on-soviet-freighter-die.html

Smith, Ken.  A History of Disaster: The Worst Storms, Accidents, and Conflagrations in Atlantic Canada.  Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing, 2008.

United States Coast Guard, Marine Board of Investigation. Marine Casualty Report.  Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Ocean Ranger, O.N. 615641, Capsizing and Sinking in the Atlantic Ocean, on 15 February 1982 with Multiple Loss of Life (Report No. USCG 16732/0001 HQS 82). Washington, DC: Commandant, USCG, May 20, 1983, 171 p. Accessed at: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/docs/boards/oceanranger.pdf