Ocean Ranger Memorial, St. John's Newfondland
Posted by: Arvense
N 47° 34.944 W 052° 43.474
22T E 370322 N 5271328
Quick Description: A Memorial for those who lost their lives in the sinking of 'The Ocean Ranger'
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Date Posted: 6/13/2009 8:03:41 PM
Waymark Code: WM6K8K
THE OCEAN RANGER was the Titanic of the offshore exploration industry. Operated by Mobil Oil, she was the largest semi-submersible, oil-drilling platform of the day and because of her size drilled in areas too dangerous for other rigs. Like the Titanic, the vessel was considered unsinkable.
On Sunday, 14 February 1982, a winter storm with 100 mph winds and 60 foot swells developed south of Newfoundland and headed for the Grand Banks where the Ocean Ranger was drilling 315 kilometres southeast of St John’s. Around 7 pm, with seas now over 100 feet high, the crew informed the Mobil Oil shore base that the main deck had been hit by a huge wave.
Then another giant wave crashed over the rig, smashing through the ballast control room port hole. Water rushed in, shorted the control panel, causing the rig to list to about 10 degrees.
The crew then attempted to manually start the pumps to right the rig but there were no manuals on board explaining how the ballast control system worked. Knowledge had been passed from one crew rotation
to the next by word of mouth. Instead of emptying the ballast tank on the side where the rig was listing, the men pumped in more water, increasing the list to about 15 degrees.
Their fate was sealed. The Ocean Ranger radioed it was abandoning ship. Rescue attempts by helicopter and the attending supply ship, Seaforth Highlander, were hampered by the storm and cold water and a
lifeboat capsised when desperate crew members tried to climb a rescue line thrown to them from the supply ship. The Seaforth Highlander then launched its own large inflatable life raft, but it floated away just out of reach of the drowning men.
At 3:38 am on 15 February, the rig capsised and sank to the floor of the Grand Banks. All 84 hands aboard the Ocean Ranger perished. A Canadian Royal Commission spent two years looking into the disaster and its recommendations had a major impact on design, construction and safety procedures for the offshore oil and gas industry.
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Capt. Clarence Hauss
Paschal Joesph O'Neill
Benjamin Kent Thompson