History Detail
Incident Name: Eleni V

Subject: USCG Case History

Incident Date: 5/6/1978

Incident Location: Norfolk, southeast coast of England

Author: USCG Case History

Latitude: 52 49 N

Longitude: 001 48 E

Product: Heavy Fuel Oil

Type: 4

Volume: 52500

Source:Tank Vessel

RAR: Molluscs, designated harvest sites, sand/gravel beaches, recreational beaches.

Dispersants: Yes

Bioremediation: No

In-Situ Burning: Yes

Special Interest Topic(s): Complex salvage operations, unusual or experimental cleanup techniques.

Shoreline Type(s) Impacted: Sand/gravel beaches.

Summary: On the morning of May 6, 1978, the Greek tanker Eleni V was cut in two by the French vessel Roseline in foggy conditions off the southeast coast of England. The Eleni V was loaded with 117,280 barrels of Heavy Fuel Oil. The collision caused the release of approximately 52,500 barrels of oil. The aft section was towed to Rotterdam by five Dutch tugs. The cargo remaining in the aft section was recovered by pumping it into storage tanks at Europort. The forward section of the vessel drifted away from the collision site. It went aground on May 8 on a sandbank near Lowestoft off the East Anglian coast with approximately 8000 barrels still on board. Attempts to salvage the forward part failed, and authorities decided to blow it up. The bow was towed to a position several miles offshore and blown up with two tons of explosives by Navy divers on May 30. Following the explosion, a large part of the remaining oil burned.

Behavior: The heavy fuel oil had a viscosity of 5,000 centistokes at 20 degrees C. It formed a huge viscous slick that was brown to black in color. Oil washed ashore on the English and Dutch coasts. Oil on the shoreline formed pancakes between .25 and 12 inches in diameter. Oil was also reported as globules of thick mousse that appeared on the beaches. This became the worst case of marine pollution on the English coast since the Torrey Canyon spill, more than 11 years earlier. Oil impacting on the Dutch coast was identified as similar to that of the Eleni V by gas chromatographic analysis. It was believed to have come from the bow section when it was blown up. Analysis of trajectory model outputs suggested that if the bow section had been blown up sooner, more of the oil would have washed ashore in the estuaries of the Dutch coast, and along the British and Belgian coastlines. This was determined by the wind, weather and current conditions at the time of the demolition. The spill affected shellfish areas and private and recreational beaches along the British and Dutch coasts. The holiday beaches in Norfolk and Suffolk were also impacted with pancakes and tarballs of the thick viscous oil. The pancakes formed a thick skin due to weathering.

Countermeasures/Mitigation: This incident demonstrated the limits of dispersants on heavy viscous oils. When the slicks appeared following the collision, the immediate response was a major chemical dispersant spraying operation. It had been predicted early in the response that this particular type of oil would not readily disperse. Nonetheless, 22 vessels were used over a period of three weeks spraying chemicals on the oil. Nearly 240,000 gallons of BP 1100D and Dasic LTD were used. The dispersant operation had virtually no effect on the oil, and almost all of it went ashore anyway.

Other Special Interest(s): Dutch authorities used gas chromatography in an attempt to identify the oil that was impacting their shoreline. It was not positively identified as oil from the Eleni V, but it was determined to be similar. This research was combined with trajectory forecasting to determine the origin of the oil and the potential effects of the pollution if the bow section had been blown up earlier.

References: •Genwest Systems, Inc. communications with ITOPF representatives. •Hooke, N. Modern Shipping Disasters 1963-1987. Lloyds of London Press. 1987. •National Research Council. Using Oil Spill Dispersants on the Sea. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1989. pp. 319-320. •Nichols, J.A. and Parker, H. 1985. Dispersants: Comparison of Laboratory Tests & Field Trials with Practical Experience at Spills., Oil Spill Conference Proceedings 1985. pp. 421-427.

Last Edit: 9/17/92