The ARKAS under command of Capt. Struempell arrived with a full load of light crude oil from Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo and she lightered at sea, off the coast of Louisiana. Then in the foggy evening of 31.03.1982 she was steaming up the Mississippi River with her part cargo of about 80'000 tonnes to her discharge port St. James (halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge).
At about 21:15 hours the ARKAS overtook the loaded tug/barge composition CREOLE GENII on her port side, consisting of the tugboat and three tank barges at mile 130 between Norco and La Place, upriver from New Orleans. During this time of the year it was already dark and the river was high with strong currents, running as fast as 5 to 6 knots (9,2 to 11,1 km per hour).
During this manoeuvre the tug/barge composition CREOLE GENII came out of control and hit the tanker on its port side in cargo wing tank, just forward of the engine room. The crude oil flowing out of the 1,5 m wide gash, ignited and floated as a burning carpet down the river with flames raising over 100 m into the sky. We do not know, how many tons of crude oil poured into the river, but it is assumed a few hundred tons. The pilot managed to beach the vessel on a nearby sand bank, located on the east bank near the village of Montz. About 85 residents of the riverside road in Montz were evacuated from their homes for some hours.
The crew tried to combat the flames on the side of the vessel, but about 20 minutes later, master ordered the crew to abandon the ship. The starboard life boat was lowered into the water and the crew left the ship. Two crew members jumped into the cold water, but were picked up by the life boat. These two men were very lucky, that the boat could find them in the dark and foggy night, but also, that they were not injured or even killed by the burning oil.
During this accident nobody was killed or seriously injured, but 2 crew members of the ARKAS received a short hospital treatment. The crew was brought to a hotel near the airport of New Orleans. In the following days some of the crew were repatriated back to their homes, except for all deck officers, engineers, the electrician, the pumpman and 2 sailors, who were retained to discharge the cargo.
Apparently the tug CREOLE GENII had not all of its engines running and after the collision, the composition broke apart and the barges were drifting downriver. One of the barges caught also fire, but it was extinguished quickly. Tug boats were busy to catch and control the drifting barges and to prevent further collisions with barges and ships anchored downriver. Other accounts reported two of the barges as sunk.
Whether the fire on the river was extinguished by the fire brigade or burnt out by itself, we cannot comment, but about 5 hours later the fire on the river was out. Since the crude oil was of very light quality no pollution occurred. However a river stretch of about 5 miles remained closed to all traffic and was only opened-up for one way traffic in the morning of 02.04.1982.
The chemical plants and grain elevators downriver were advised by the coast guard to take protective measures against possible fires. The water intakes of the factories and plants were closed to prevent oil contamination in the systems.
The grounded ARKAS was refloated on 09.04.1982 and towed to an anchorage to be discharged and to await the accident investigation and further proceedings. In the following weeks the cargo was pumped into barges, which was a very slow operation. Since the engine room was out of order, the cargo pumps could not be used anymore. The steam driven stripping pumps were changed to air service with the air provided by huge air compressors, fitted on a large pontoon alongside the vessel.
The partly loaded vessel sustained serious fire damage in the engine room, due to the burning oil flowing under the stern, thereby heating up the engine room. The steel structure and machinery, but especially all the electrical components and cables suffered destruction and a great part of the port side engine room had to be completely rebuilt. Also the port side life boat was destroyed, whereas the accommodations did not suffer any damage.
As stated in some of the local new papers, this was the first major accident on the Mississippi, since budget cuts forced the U.S. Coast Guard to give up its Vessel Traffic System on 15.03.1982.
Subsequently the damaged vessel was sold to Ogden Corporation, New York, USA, and repairs were carried out by Avondale Shipyards, Avondale, New Orleans. After the repairs were completed in 1983, the vessel was renamed OGDEN COLUMBIA.
The ARKAS.was purchased under the provisions of the "Wrecked Vessels Act" for service within US-waters to transport crude oil from Alaska to the US-West coast. However a competitor raised a claim against the owners, which resulted in large court case. The "Wrecked Vessels Act" allows foreign owned and built vessels to be used for service within the waters of the USA, provided such a wrecked vessel is purchased by US-citizens and it is repaired in a US-shipyard.
Note, this report was drawn-up from various information, such as discussions with ex crew members from the vessel and from clippings from local newspapers. Not all details may be completely accurate due to missing further or contradictory information .
SwissShips HPS January 2017
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