The Marpessa was a Shell - crude oil tanker that sank after a fire on board on December 15, 1969th At the time it was the largest ship ever lost.
history
The tanker was built on behalf of Shell by the Japanese shipyard Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries and put into service on October 15, 1969 for the Curacaosche Scheepvaart Maatschappij from Willemstad . The maiden voyage led to the Persian Gulf , where the first cargo destined for Rotterdam was taken on board. After being unloaded in Europoort , the ship began its second voyage to the store in the Persian Gulf in December 1969.
The Marpessa was about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Senegal on December 12 and was in the last phase of the tank washing when an explosion and a subsequent fire occurred in central tank 5 at noon. The explosion killed two Chinese officers, destroyed the fire-fighting lines on deck, and caused water to enter the pump room and engine room, making it impossible to attempt to extinguish the fire. After about twelve hours this went out by itself, but the ship continued to take in water and sank lower aft, whereupon bulkheads broke one after the other to the empty tanks, which in turn led to further water intake. On the morning of December 15, the tanker, which had meanwhile drifted to a position about 50 nautical miles north-northwest of Dakar , finally sank over the stern .
literature
Norman Hooke: Modern Shipping Disasters 1963-1987 . Lloyd's of London Press, London 1989, ISBN 1-85044-211-8 , pp.300 .
.svg){kind=small}