SS Puerto Rican
{{Italic title|string=Puerto Rican}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=SS Puerto Rican under tow October 31, 1984, about ten-thirty in the morning, in position approximately 15.5 miles southwest of Point Bonita. US Coast Guard Photo.jpg |Ship image size= |Ship caption= SS Puerto Rican under tow on October 31, 1984, approximately {{convert|15.5|mi}} southwest of Point Bonita. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship owner=Bankers Trust Company |Ship operator=Keystone Shipping |Ship flag= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland |Ship original cost= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=March 19, 1971 |Ship completed=October 8, 1971 (delivery){{cite web |last=Colton |first=Tim |title=Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point MD |publisher=ShipbuildingHistory |date=October 5, 2014 |url=http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/large/bethsparrowspoint.htm |access-date=26 June 2019}} |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship identification=*Official number: 535000 |Ship fate= |Ship status= |Ship notes=Ship chartered to PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type=LPG supertanker |Ship tonnage={{GRT|20295}}, {{DWT|34400}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{cvt|632|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{cvt|90|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth={{cvt|48|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship sail plan= |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed= |Ship capacity= |Ship crew= |Ship notes= }} |
SS Puerto Rican, was an American-flagged tanker disabled by an explosion on October 31, 1984. The {{GRT|20295}}, {{cvt|632|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}, tanker was owned by Bankers Trust Company and operated by Keystone Shipping Co. of Philadelphia which burned in an explosion with the stern section sinking just hours after leaving San Francisco bound for New Orleans with a cargo of {{convert|91984|oilbbl|lk=in}} of lubricating oil and additives. In addition to the cargo the ship was fueled with {{convert|8500|oilbbl}} of heavy fuel oil (Bunker C) before departure.{{cite report |date=March 2013 |title=Screening Level Risk Assessment Package Puerto Rican |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries |url=https://nmssanctuaries.blob.core.windows.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/protect/ppw/pdfs/puerto_rican.pdf |access-date=27 June 2019}}
The ship had departed just after midnight and was in the process of disembarking the pilot at 3:24 a.m. when an explosion occurred near the No. 6 center-independent tank blowing the pilot Captain James S. Nolan and two crew members into the water. The pilot boat San Francisco rescued the pilot and one of the two crew members.
The incident
The ship was eight miles off the Golden Gate bridge on October 31, 1984, at 3:24 a.m., when she was torn by a very large double explosion just forward of her deck house. A {{convert|100|ft|adj=on}} section of deck, the whole width of the vessel, was thrown up and then back down forward on the deck in front of it, as flames shot hundreds of feet in the air.
Loss of life, Coast Guard response, partial sinking
A bar pilot, the third mate, and a crew member were thrown into the sea. The pilot boat San Francisco rescued the badly injured pilot and mate, but the crewman was lost. As fire raged on board, the United States Coast Guard towed the crippled ship further out to sea, to keep her from breaking up and dumping her cargo near San Francisco Bay. On November 1, a storm passed through the area, battering Puerto Rican with {{convert|35|mph|adj=on}} winds and {{convert|16|ft|adj=on}}-high seas. That evening, after 32 hours of effort, navy fireboats finally extinguished the fire. On November 3, {{convert|30|mi}} southwest of the Golden Gate, she broke up, her stern section sinking to a depth of {{convert|1500|ft}} within the boundaries of the Gulf of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Over a million and a quarter gallons of refined petroleum products, about one-third of Puerto Rican{{'}}s cargo, went into the water.
Suspicion of bombing and subsequent investigation
In the days after the explosion, there were intimations in the media of sabotage linked to a labor dispute.{{cite news |date=November 1, 1984 |title=(None given, dead link) |journal=New York Times |pages=1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/01/us/fbi-investigating-possibility-of-bombing-in-tanker-explosion.html }} The vessel had been picketed in a Bay Area port and some of its crew harassed by maritime union pickets.{{cite report |date=June 15, 1985 |title=Marine Casualty Report—Tankship Puerto Rican—O.N. 535000 |publisher=United States Coast Guard |url=https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CG-5PC/INV/docs/boards/puertorican.pdf |access-date=26 June 2019}} The FBI intervened, but it was quickly determined that no point source explosion had occurred. Later it was found that the explosion probably resulted from holes in tank compartment bulkheads that allowed caustic soda to mix with zinc, forming deadly hydrogen gas that then exploded. A Coast Guard board of investigation attributed this to the negligence of the ship's officers on the inbound voyage from Long Beach. But no cause of the explosion could be established with certainty.
Oil spill impact
The environmental impact was significant. In addition to the initial spill, the sunken stern section continued to discharge heavy bunker oil – as much as {{convert|8000|oilbbl}} – for months and possibly years afterwards. An estimated 4,815 seabirds were killed by oiling as a result of this spill; another 1,368 were recovered.{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Harry R.|date=April 15, 2003 |title=Oil and California's Seabirds: An Overview |journal=Marine Ornithology |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=7 (Table 1) |publisher=Pacific Seabird Group |url=http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/31_1/31_1_1_carter.pdf |access-date=27 June 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Glionna |first1=John M. |date=February 1, 2002 |title=Clues to decade-old oil-spill puzzle may lie on ocean floor off San Francisco |journal=Seattle Times |pages=1 |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20020201/oiltanker31/clues-to-decade-old-oil-spill-puzzle-may-lie-on-ocean-floor-off-san-francisco |access-date=27 June 2019}}