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SS ''Atlantic Empress'' was a Greek
oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...
that in 1979 collided with the oil tanker '' Aegean Captain'' in the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
, and eventually sank, having created the fifth largest oil spill on record and the largest ship-based spill having spilled 287,000 metric tonnes of
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...
into the Caribbean Sea. It was built at the '' Odense Staalskibsværft'' shipyard in
Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
, Denmark, and launched on 16 February 1974.


Ship history

The ''Atlantic Empress'' was a large crude oil carrier built at the '' Odense Staalskibsværft'' shipyard in
Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
, Denmark, and launched on 16 February 1974. At the time of her sinking, she was owned by the South Gulf Shipping Company of Greece, and flagged in Liberia.


Collision and sinking

On 19 July 1979 ''Atlantic Empress'' collided with the '' Aegean Captain'', another fully laden Greek supertanker, east of the island of
Tobago Tobago, officially the Ward of Tobago, is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger islan ...
. At the time of the collision ''Atlantic Empress'' was sailing from Saudi Arabia to
Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...
, with a cargo of
light crude oil Light crude oil is liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low viscosity, low specific gravity and high API gravity due to the presence of a high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions. It generally ...
owned by
Mobil Oil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...
. ''Aegean Captain'' was en route to Singapore from
Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...
. In heavy rain and thick fog the two ships did not see each other until they were apart. ''Aegean Captain'' changed course, but it was too late; at 7:15 p.m, the two ships collided, with the ''Empress'' tearing a hole in the ''Captain''s starboard bow. Large fires began on each ship, which were soon beyond the control of the crews, who abandoned their ships. The collision and fire claimed the lives of 26 of the ''Empresss crew members, and one crew member on the ''Captain''. The remaining crew from both ships were taken to Tobago for medical treatment, while the ''Empress''s captain was transported to a hospital in Texas, having inhaled fire. Firefighters from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard brought the fires aboard the ''Captain'' under control the next day, and members of her crew returned to the ship, and were able to bring her into
Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...
, where her cargo was off-loaded. Meanwhile, a five-man specialist emergency crew from the Dutch Salvage organization Smit International and the German Bugsier, managed by a Salvage inspector of Smit International, attempted to control the fire aboard ''Empress'', and contain the spreading oil slick. Two tugs (one of them being the ''Smit Zwarte Zee'') towed the burning ship further out to sea. On 24 July, a week after the collision, the ''Empress'' was still burning, and also listing, when an explosion occurred that increased the rate of flow. The next day another larger explosion increased the rate to , twice the previous rate. Finally, on 3 August, the ''Empress'' sank, having spilled 287,000 metric tonnes of crude oil into the Caribbean Sea. By comparison, in the '' Exxon Valdez'' spill ten years later 37,000 metric tonnes of oil was released.


See also

* List of oil spills


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlantic Empress 1974 ships Ships built in Odense Maritime incidents in 1979 Oil tankers ExxonMobil oil spills Ships of ExxonMobil Oil spills in North America