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SS Arrow

SS Arrow was built by Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Baltimore, Maryland in 1948 as the tanker Olympic Games. Renamed the Sea Robin in 1960 and finally to Arrow in 1962, the ship was a Liberian-registered tanker. At 551.2 feet (167.9 metres) in length, 68.3 feet (20.7 metres) in width, and a draft of 29.9 feet (9.1 metres), she was an enlarged version of the standard American wartime tanker design and one of the oldest tankers in the fleet of Aristotle Onassis, owned by the Sun Navigation Company. The SS Arrow was under charter by Imperial Oil Limited, which has local offices in Halifax. The company had already sold the Bunker C fuel to a local paper company located in Point Tupper. The ships destination was Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. The Arrow was carrying 16,000 tons of Bunker C industrial fuel.

Bunker C

Example of Bunker C Fuel Oil.

When people think of fuel they think of gasoline or diesel, however Bunker C is a very unique fuel and is different than most conventional fuels. Bunker C has the consistency of tar. It is thicker than syrup and does not flow well unless heated to extremely high temperatures. When distilling or purifying crude oil into industrial fuels such as gasoline or diesel fuel, impurities are taken out of the oil. The impurities taken out are combined to form Bunker C. Some of these impurities are sulfer, sand, Asphalt Flux, various metals, and water. Bunker C is being banned in 2020 because of its high quantity of sulfur which is polluting the atmosphere. The high quantity of sulfur also causes corrosion in the pipes and machinery Bunker C fuel is used in. Bunker C is also called Fuel Oil No. 6 and it is mainly used in gas turbines, locomotives, and as a boiler fuel. No. 6 fuel oil is nicknamed “nasty black” because of the sticky consistency and staining tendencies. It was the cheapest fuel oil available on the market at its time. It is messy to work with because it sticks to anything that comes in contact with it, and it is extremely hard to clean up if spilled. However it is safer than using gasoline or diesel because its ignition temperature is roughly greater than 257 degrees Celsius. This means the chances of the fuel igniting during transportation are significantly lessened.

Accident and loss

Arrow took on approximately 16,000 tons (10 million litres) of bunker C oil in Aruba, off the coast of Venezuela under charter to Imperial Oil Limited, bound for the Stora paper mill in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia. On February 4, 1970 in Chedabucto Bay, off the east coast of Nova Scotia in a gale and only 14.6 nautical miles from her destination, she ran hard aground on Cerberus Rock, a known, well-charted hazard to navigation. The tanker ran aground mid-morning, halfway between high and low tide, being driven by 60 knot southwesterly winds and blinded by a heavy mist. The impact drove the forward section of the tanker onto the rock formation wedging it with the starboard side hard against the rock pinnacle. Efforts to free her from the rock failed as did efforts to pump her cargo into salvage vessels and pounded by wind and wave action broke in two on February 8,1970 spilling about two-thirds of her cargo. The subsequent inquiry revealed that Arrow's depth sounder had not been operational for two months, her autogyro compass showed a permanent error of three degrees west and her radar failed about an hour before she ran aground.

The crew was taken off the vessel late into the night on February 4, 1970. After four days of harsh waves and weather pounding the vessel against the rock, the deck plates and side plating began to buckle. On February 8, 1970 the tanker split into two sections. Both the stern and bow sections sank in an upright position and little damage was done to the storage tanks and cargo hold on the stern section. > It remains the most significant oil spill off Canada’s East Coast (with some 10,000 tonnes or about 25% of the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.) Only the MV Kurdistan comes close when that vessel spilled about 6,000 tons of oil after breaking apart just south of Cabot Strait on 15 March 1979. Later reports reported over 2.5 million imperial gallons of Bunker C was spilled into the Chedabucto Bay. Most of this was spilled during the first 24 hours when salvage vessels were attempting to pump the fuel off the ship before it sunk. Of the ships 30 cargo tanks, only 9 tanks remained intact after the vessel sank, all of which were located in the stern section of the tanker. Salvage operations began in the end of February 1970 to pump all of the remaining Bunker C out of the tanks which remained intact. After deployments consisting of 22 days all together, all remaining Bunker C was removed by April 11, 1970.

The Spill

On February 5, 1970 a mile long oil slick had formed and was heading for Cape Breton Island, the northern side of the bay. Small aircraft attempted to disperse the oil dropping a chemical known as (COREXIT) on the spill, but attempts failed. The oil spread and washed ashore on many beaches in the bay. In a week’s span, the oil spread to occupy 75 miles of beachheads and threatened to spread even further. In the end the oil spill claimed 190 miles of shoreline and some amount of pollution still remains to day eating away at the local environment. The clean-up took months to complete. The pollution caused by the spill handicapped the fishing industry in the bay. Studies were preformed on the pollution by testing local fish and crustacean life in the bay. Fisherman were catching lobsters and fish completely coated in Bunker C. The Fisheries Research Board of Canada preformed a series of experiments in May of 1970 to evaluate the cleanliness of the aquatic life in the bay. They came up with a series of rules for the commercial fishing business to abide by for the health of humans consuming their products. In all aspects the cost of cleaning the spill and the cost of the environmental impact cost the local government millions.

Removal of Remaining Bunker C

As preparations began to debunker the sunken tanker, the Curb, a salvage barge from New York, was dispatched to help assist with pumping the remaining fuel out of the cargo tanks. In preparation for the Curb Royal Canadian Navy divers preformed tests with equipment that would be used to penetrate the tanks on the Arrow and attach hose fittings so the fuel could be pumped out of the tanks. The challenge was the fuel had to be heated before it could be pumped out. The Curb was equipped with special steam pumps so steam could be pumped down into the tanks to heat the Bunker C. After the fuel was pumped out of the cargo tanks, the fuel was transferred to the Irving Whale, an oil transfer barge. Because of limited capacity on the Irving Whale assisting with the removal of Bunker C and intermittent weather foul conditions, the whole operation was completed in three phases totaling over 22 days. Over 36,924 barrels of Bunker C fuel was recovered from the sunken vessel over the three deployments. The load was split between the Irving whale and the smaller Imperial Cornwall. On conclusion of the operation, both the Irving Whale and the Imperial Cornwall were towed to Halifax and relieved of their Bunker C.

The Wreck

To this day the remains of the SS Arrow reside alongside Cerberus Rock split into two sections. The Crows nest on the Bow section and the exhaust stack on the stern section jut out of the water reminding all who see of the disaster that occurred. Many species of fish and marine life conceal the wreck beneath the waves, but the reminder of what pollution can do to the environment still resides.

External links

• Images of the wreck can be found here:

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?178240

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/media/562/ photo

• Images of the spill can be found here:

http://people.stfx.ca/rsg/SRSF/GCIFA/ArrowSpill.html

http://www.supsalv.org/SalvReports/ARROW.pdf

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