Ref Number: 00155
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The luckiest escape that the Island's shores have ever had from a shipwreck was that of the 43,000 ton Liberian super-tanker Pacific Glory, which carrrying African crude oil.
Ref Number: 00155
On Friday night, October 23, 1970, at nine o’clock, the massive ship Pacific Glory set off from Southampton for Rotterdam. The 46,000-ton tanker Allegro swerved to avoid another ship and collided with the Glory about six miles off of St. Catherine’s Point. After struggling to reach Southampton, the Allegro finally made it to Fawley, where it was detained.
The Pacific Glory then began to drift towards Ventnor and a dangerous fire broke out in the engine room, 14 crew members perished. Luckily, rescue personnel were able to save the lives of the remaining 29 crew members and bring them to safety on the shore.
By this time, a sizable oil slick had emerged, sparking fears of a catastrophic oil spill. However, the Royal Navy and the Dutch oil company Shell eventually extinguished the blaze after two day and contained the majority of the oil.
After the firefighters had extinguished the blaze, the salvage crews hauled the ship to Lyme Bay in south Devon. Here it was possible to view the holes in the ship’s side and the devastation of the fire.
The super-tanker was then hauled to Europort in the port of Rotterdam later the same day, November 17. About 453,120 barrels of crude oil were transferred from the ship’s storage tanks.
After being declared a total loss, the ship was dragged to Hong Kong and repaired there and roughly a year later renamed in 1972 as the Oriental Confidence, however, sometime later another incident saw another two lives being lost on her,
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