Gone But Not Forgotten
On February 15th, 1982, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians witnessed
the worst offshore drilling accident in Canadian history with the loss of 84
lives.
The Ocean Ranger was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan and first
operated in the Bering Sea off Alaska in 1976. From there it moved to New
Jersey, then Ireland and in November 1980 arrived on the Grand Banks. The Ocean
Ranger was a massive oil rig touted as unsinkable and able to drill in areas too
dangerous for other rigs. She was the pride of the offshore oil industry, the
biggest rig of her day. On February 15, 1982 the semi submersible drilling rig
the Ocean Ranger capsized and sank on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, 170 miles
East of St. John’s.
On Sunday, February 14th, a vicious storm developed south of
Newfoundland and headed for the Grand Banks. By sunset that very day, winds were
up to 90 knots and seas were building rapidly. At around 7pm, with seas over
30meters (100feet) high, the main deck of the Ocean Ranger reported an
especially huge wave. Sometime after 7pm the Ocean Ranger reported to the mobile
shore base in St. John’s that a giant wave crashed over the rig smashing a
porthole in the ballast control room. Water rushed in and shorted out circuits
and the rig began to list. No one on board could stop what was happening. At
1:05am they requested that the supply ship come close and to stand by. At 1:09
it sent an SOS signal to search and rescue. "We're listing badly and we need to
get the seamen off the rig.." Another call from the Ocean Ranger states, "We may
not be able to hold the rig, rig might fall over..." At 1:30, the Ocean Ranger
signaled it was sending its crew to lifeboats. That was the last time anyone
heard from them. Two hours later at 3:38 a.m Coast Guard and other rescuers
watched their radars as the Ocean Ranger disappeared. By 2:00 a.m., supply boats
in the area had come to rescue people, or at least try. Tom Cane was onboard one
such vessel and recalls, "We got close enough to see people. Fifteen or twenty
feet and we were trying to get boot hooks out to them.....reach out and try to
get a hook into a bit of clothing or something because I don't say they would
last long in a cold night like that." Despite their efforts all rescue attempts
failed and all crew members perished.
Owen Meyers was the weather forecaster on another oil rig, the Sedco 706 just
fourteen kilometres from the Ocean Ranger. He remembers "We didn't have
anything. We didn’t have all the survival suits like they have now. We had
nothing, you know. I mean you were just going to go out in the Atlantic Ocean. I
mean the sea water temperature was -1.2 degrees I think."
All 84 crew members died. Over the next 4 days search teams were only able to
recover 22 bodies, 2 life boats, and 6 life rafts. Autopsies showed those men
had drowned. A Royal Commission looked into the disaster. It concluded the Ocean
Ranger had design flaws, particularly in the ballast control room, and that the
crew lacked proper safety training and equipment.
Today marks the 31st anniversary... all hands aboard lost and out of the 84 souls, only 22 bodies were brought home. Rest in Peace...
Jim Dodd
Derek Escott
Cyril Greene
Derek Holden
Rick Sheppard
Frank Smit
Daniel Conway
Terrance Dwyer
Fred Harnum
Randy Noseworthy
John Pinhorn
Dennis Ryan
William Smith
Woodrow Warford
Tom Hatfield
Arthur Dagg
Kenneth Chafe
Gerald Clarke
Douglas Putt
Gary Crawford
Norman Halliday
Wayne Miller
Gord Mitchell
Perry Morrison
Greg Caines
Wayne Drake
Cliff Kuhl
Robert Wilson
David Chalmers
Robert Howell
Robert Fenez
Jack Jacobsen
Robert Madden
George Augot
Nicholas Baldwin
Kenneth Blackmore
Thomas Blevins
David Boutcher
Wade Brinston
Paul Bursey
Norman Dawe |
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| Thomas Donlon
Joseph Burry
Leon Droddy
William Dugas
Domenic Dyke
Andrew Evoy
Randell Ferguson
Ronald Foley
Melvin Freid
Carl Fry
George Grandy
Guy Garbeau
Regineld Gorum
Capt. Clarence Hauss
Ron Heffernan
Gregory Hickey
Robert Hicks
Albert Howell
Harold LeDrew
Robert LeDrew
Michael Maurice
Ralph Melendy
Ken O'Brien
Paschal Joesph O'Neill
George Palmer
Clyde Parsons
Donald Pieroway
Willie Powell
Gerald Power
Donald Rathbun
William Smith
Ted Staplton
Benjamin Kent Thompson
Craig Tilley
Gerald Vaughn
Michael Watkin
Robert Winsor
Stephen Winsor
Robert Arsenault
Darryl Reid
Greg Tiller
Listen to Ron Hynes 'Atlantic Blue'
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