Everything about Betelgeuse Incident totally explained
The Betelgeuse incident, also known as the
Betelgeuse or Whiddy Island disaster, occurred on
8 January,
1979, at around 1 a.m., when the
oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in
Ireland at the offshore jetty of the
Whiddy Island Oil Terminal due to the failure of the ship's structure during an operation to discharge its cargo of
oil. The tanker was owned by
Total S.A. and the oil terminal was owned and operated by
Gulf Oil.
The explosion and resulting fire claimed the lives of 50 people (42
French nationals, 7
Irish nationals and 1
United Kingdom national). Only 27 bodies were recovered. A further fatality occurred during the salvage operation with the loss of a
Dutch diver.
Background
During the 1960s, developments in the pattern of oil transportation indicated that it would soon become most economic to move oil between the
Middle East and
Europe using
Ultra Large Crude Carrier vessels. These vessels were so large that they wouldn't be able to enter most of the older ports on the
Atlantic Ocean,
North Sea and
English Channel coasts.
Accordingly, it was judged appropriate to build a new oil terminal in Europe capable of handling the largest vessels that were planned. The intention was that oil coming from the Middle East would be off-loaded at this terminal and then stored for
transshipment to European refineries using smaller vessels. The closure of the
Suez Canal in 1967 as a result of the
Six-Day War reinforced the economic viability of this scheme. Oil shipments had to come round the
Cape of Good Hope, thus avoiding the vessel size constraints previously imposed by the canal.
In 1966, the
Gulf Oil Corporation identified
Whiddy Island in
Bantry Bay, Ireland, as being the most suitable site for the new terminal. Whiddy Island offered a long, sheltered deep-water anchorage. Furthermore, it was well away from any major population centres and shipping lanes. Construction started in 1967 and the terminal was completed in 1969.
The onshore facility included a 'tank farm' consisting of two tanks for
ballast, two for
bunker fuel oil, one for
diesel oil and twelve
crude oil storage tanks, each capable of holding 81,280
tonnes, bringing the total capacity to approximately 1.3 million tonnes of oil. The offshore facility was comprised of an island type
berth (known colloquially as the 'jetty') 488 metres (1,600 ft) in length, approximately 396 metres (1,300 ft) from the shore. The jetty was commonly described as "a massive concrete structure" and access to it was only possible by boat. It was claimed that the jetty was capable of accommodating vessels of up to, although no such vessels existed at that time.
The construction and operation of the terminal transformed the economy of the Bantry area. In 1968, the tanker
Universe Ireland went into service for Gulf. At this was the largest ship in the world. It was intended to use this vessel mainly to move oil between
Kuwait and Whiddy Island. It was the first of six such tankers planned for use by the company.
The terminal was very successful for the first five years of operation, but then events began to move against it. The Suez Canal reopened and the economics of ULCCs began to appear less satisfactory than had originally been anticipated. Shipping goods in the form of infrequent but very large loads involves engaging more idle capital in the form of stock than the alternatives. Also, the process of transshipment is costly. The whole economic basis of the Whiddy terminal was incompatible with the '
just-in-time' approach to industrial management which was being widely adopted at the time. That apart, the late 1970s saw a levelling-off in demand for oil as the result of both economic recession and a rise in the price of oil. All these circumstances caused a fall in the utilisation of the terminal to a level below that which had been planned for. Thus, by the late 1970s, the local Gulf operating company (Gulf Oil Terminals (Ireland) Ltd) was struggling to maintain the viability of the terminal. The company had been forced to undertake a number of cost saving measures.
The incident
On
24 November,
1978, the
Betelgeuse left
Ras Tanura in the
Persian Gulf bound for
Leixoes,
Portugal with a full cargo of crude oil. Built in 1968 by
Chantiers de l'Atlantique in
Saint-Nazaire,
France, the vessel was registered by
Total S.A. at
Le Havre,
France.
Originally the
Betelgeuse was to call at
Sines,
Portugal, to lighten ship, but poor weather conditions prevented the vessel from entering the harbour. Plans were further frustrated at
Leixoes, where a ship had grounded across the entrance to the harbour, preventing the
Betelgeuse from berthing there to discharge her cargo. The
Betelgeuse was then instructed to sail to
Whiddy Island,
Ireland.
The
Betelgeuse first put in at
Vigo,
Spain to change some of her crew, and then sailed for
Whiddy Island on
30 December,
1978. During the passage the vessel encountered heavy weather in the
Bay of Biscay and after reporting a leakage of oil was instructed to head towards
Brest,
France at reduced speed. However, the origin of the leak was discovered and stopped. The vessel proceeded on its original planned course, arriving in
Bantry Bay on
4 January,
1979.
By 8 p.m. on
6 January,
1979, the
Betelgeuse had completed berthing at the offshore jetty. At 11:30 p.m. the same day, the vessel commenced discharging its 114,000
tonnes of mixed Arabian
crude oil, which was expected to take about 36 hours. A number of the crew went ashore while this was in progress and the wife of one of the officers joined her husband on the vessel.
At about 1 a.m. (evidence on the precise time conflicts) on Monday,
8 January, a rumbling or cracking noise was heard from the vessel, followed shortly by a huge explosion within its hull. The force of the explosion was seen to blow men from the jetty into the sea. Local residents reported seeing the
Betelgeuse engulfed in a ball of fire a few moments later. A series of further explosions followed, breaking the vessel in half. Much of the oil cargo still on board ignited and this generated temperatures estimated to exceed 1,000 °C. The concrete unloading jetty crumbled and firefighters, arriving on the scene from several neighbouring towns, were unable to get near the vessel. The firefighters concentrated their efforts on preventing the fire from spreading to the tanks of the storage farm and on containing the oil spillage. Local families living on the island fled for their lives.
After a few hours the
Betelgeuse sank at her moorings in 30 metres of water, which largely extinguished the main body of the fire. In spite of this, rescue workers were not able to approach the wreck (some of which was still above water) for two weeks due to clouds of toxic and inflammable gas surrounding it. After two weeks, it was possible to start recovering bodies from the wreck and pumping off the remains of the oil cargo that was still on board.
The aftermath
What became known variously as 'the
Betelgeuse incident', 'the
Betelgeuse disaster' or 'the Whiddy Island disaster' was the worst maritime disaster in Irish history. (Gulf and Total executives commonly referred to 'the
Betelgeuse incident'). Military and civilian personnel were mobilised from all over
Ireland to deal with it. The incident was the subject of agonised debate in the
Dáil. One
TD noted that there had been earlier incidents at the Whiddy Island terminal and questioned whether Gulf's status as a major employer had made the authorities reluctant to enforce a rigorous inspection regime.
The Irish government appointed a Tribunal to investigate the incident, presided over by
Justice Declan Costello. This Tribunal took a year to hear evidence and prepare a 480 page report. The report indicated three main factors that had contributed to the incident. These were:
- The poor condition of the Betelgeuse for which its operator, Total S.A., was to blame. Immediately before the incident, the vessel's hull and tanks were cracked, corroded and leaking. The 11 year old vessel had been worked hard and was at the end of its service life.
- Incorrect unloading sequences and ballasting which resulted in the buoyancy of the hull becoming uneven and the hull therefore strained. Lack of crew training or knowing malpractice were possible explanations. Total was held largely to blame for this. However, given that all the personnel involved in the unloading had died in the explosion, it was difficult to be certain as to what had happened.
- Inadequate and poorly maintained fire fighting and rescue systems both on the vessel and on the jetty. Gulf and Total were held jointly to blame for this. A combination of human failings and financial constraints were the immediate causes.
It was determined that a faulty unloading operation had unbalanced the vessel, causing it to break its back and thereby rupturing several empty ballast tanks. Vapour from the ruptured tanks had escaped into the vessel and exploded in a fireball. However, the Costello Tribunal's findings were never accepted by Total.
”Total recalls its view that the tanks exploded as the result of a fire which it believes started out on the jetty. The company can but contest the report’s conclusions which assume that the ballasting operations were carried out in a most unlikely way by a highly qualified crew.” - The Times, July 26 1980 . "Gulf and Total accused." (Total rejoinder to the Costello Tribunal report)
Total drew attention to the unexplained absence from his post of the Gulf employee whose duty it was to supervise the unloading from the on-shore control room. The individual concerned had left the control room some time before the trouble started (see below) and his absence may have contributed to a lack of urgency in responding to events. Exactly what happened that night has never been established beyond doubt.
All the crew on board the ship at the time of the incident (41 in total) are believed to have died, although not all the bodies were found. In addition, one visitor to the ship (an officer's wife) and eight terminal workers were killed. Initial efforts to contain the fire were hampered by a lack of organisation and poorly maintained fire fighting equipment at the terminal. The Bantry fire brigade spent some time waiting at the town pier for a launch to take them onto the island. The terminal's own fire engine wouldn't start. Firefighters had to break into the terminal's main depot in order to access equipment (much of which didn't work) and materials.
There was some controversy over the exact timing of events and the response of the terminal management to the disaster as it unfolded. Some local residents claimed that there was anything up to 5 minutes between the audible structural failure of the vessel and the time at which the initial explosion happened. If this were so, the opportunity to attempt an evacuation had been missed.
But the terminal management insisted that the explosion had almost immediately followed the structural failure.
”The Tribunal singles out one man who might have raised the alarm and saved the lives of those who perished : Mr John Connolly who wasn't in his post as despatcher in the control room of the terminal. To suppress that fact Gulf personnel and the Bantry telephone operator entered into a conspiracy. False entries were made in logs, false accounts were given of the disaster and efforts were made to avoid giving statements to the police.”- The Times, July 26 1980 . "Gulf and Total accused."
No escape from the jetty or the vessel was possible in the absence of rescue boats, given that there was no fixed link from the jetty to the shore. However, all concerned praised the initiative and courage of the firefighters and rescue workers.
A Dutch salvage firm, L Smit & Co, raised the
Betelgeuse in four sections. The first section (the bow) was towed out to open water, offshore, and scuttled. This measure attracted protests from the fishing community, so two further sections were sealed up and towed to breaking yards in Spain for disposal. A fourth section was broken up locally. During the salvage operation, the life of a diver was lost. The last section wasn't removed until July 1980. Local fishing grounds were badly contaminated and a clean-up wasn't finally complete until 1983.
The costs of salvage, clean-up and compensation are believed to have totalled around US$120 million. That included compensation paid by Total to Gulf. Most of the relevant costs were paid by insurance companies and all the various claims and counter-claims were eventually settled out of court. Gulf never reopened the terminal and a feasibility study in 1985 showed that it no longer had any potential use in international oil trade. In 1986, Gulf surrendered its lease on the site to the Irish government. The government used the terminal (after carrying out a limited refurbishment) to hold its strategic oil reserve, with loading and unloading carried out via a buoy. The terminal's main jetty wasn't rebuilt.
A number of memorial services have been held to commemorate anniversaries of the incident. The most recent of these was on the 25th anniversary in January 2004. Relatives of the victims joined with local residents in a special service held at St Finbarr’s Church in
Bantry. A memorial sculpture, incorporating the ship's bell which was recovered from the wreck, has been erected in the hillside graveyard overlooking the harbour. The bodies of two unidentified casualties from the incident are interred nearby.
Image gallery
Image:Bantry1.jpg|Alternative view of the Betelgeuse Memorial, taken by Ronald Searle, circa 2000. The Memorial is situated in the Abbey Cemetery overlooking Bantry harbour
Image:Bantry2.jpg|Whiddy Island Oil Terminal, taken by Warren Buckley in 2003. The view is from the North side of Bantry Bay. The three small objects in the water on the extreme right are the remnants of the concrete jetty.
Image:Bantry3.jpg|Whiddy Island, taken by Pam Brophy in 2005. The view is from the South side of Bantry Bay. The oil terminal isn't visible.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Betelgeuse Incident'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://betelgeuse_incident.totallyexplained.com">Betelgeuse incident Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
