MV ''Argo Merchant'' was a Liberian-flagged

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined c ...

built by Howaldtswerke in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, in 1953, most noted for running aground and subsequent sinking southeast of Nantucket Island,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, causing one of the largest marine

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into ...

s in history. Throughout the vessel's troubled past, she was involved in more than a dozen major shipping incidents including two other groundings; once in Indonesia while named ''Permina Samudra III'', and again in Sicily while named ''Vari''; and a collision in Japan. Because of her checkered career and sinking, ''Argo Merchant'' was featured in the "worst ship" category in the 1979 publication, '' The Book of Heroic Failures''.

1976 shipwreck

In December 1976, ''Argo Merchant'' loaded with of No. 6 fuel oil at Puerto La Cruz,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, sailing for

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

under Captain Georgios Papadopoulos. It was later established that the ship carried two unqualified crew as helmsmen, a broken

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...

, inadequate charts, and an inaccurate

radio direction finder Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio statio ...

. At 6 p.m. on 15 December in high winds and seas, the tanker ran aground on

Middle Rip Shoal Nantucket Shoals is an area of dangerously shallow water in the Atlantic Ocean that extends from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, eastward for and southeastward for ; in places water depth can be as shallow as . Depth soundings are unpredictable d ...

about southeast of Nantucket and more than off her intended course. The thirty-eight members of the crew were evacuated, but the shallow waters and weather conditions made it impossible to offload the oil or salvage the ship. On 21 December 1976, ''Argo Merchant'' broke apart and emptied its entire cargo of fuel oil, enough to heat 18,000 homes for a year. Northwesterly winds blew the

oil slick An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

offshore, and coastal fisheries and beaches were spared the worst.

1976 shipwreck

See also

References

Further reading