Esso Brussels
| History | |
|---|---|
| Belgium | |
| Name: |
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| Owner: |
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| Operator: |
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| Builder: | Kockums shipyard FH, Malmö, Sweden |
| Laid down: | May 4th, 1959 |
| Launched: | 26 October 1959 |
| In service: | 1960 |
| Out of service: | October 21st, 1985 |
| Homeport: |
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| Fate: | Scrapped at Aliağa, Turkey |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Oil Tanker |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 213.12 m (699 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 29.65 m (97 ft 3 in) |
| Height: | 11.59 m (38 ft 0 in) |
| Installed power: | Two steam turbines (12,309 kilowatts (16,507 hp)), double reduction geared. |
| Propulsion: | Single Screw |
| Speed: | 17.25 knots (31.95 km/h) |
| Crew: | 52 |
Esso Brussels was a commercial oil tanker built for the Esso Oil company in 1959. She was involved in a collision in 1973 in which thirteen of her crew perished. She was rebuilt and sailed under various other names until being scrapped in 1985.
She was built at Kockums shipyard in Malmö, Sweden and launched on 26 October 1959. Following outfitting, she entered commercial service transporting crude and refined oil products for the Esso Oil Company throughout Europe, Africa and North America. Built along classic lines with the bridge and the officer's quarters located amidships and the engines, crew quarters and aft deckhouse located toward the stern, Esso Brussels was a typical oil tanker in both size and design for her time.
The Esso Brussels dropped anchor in the southernmost anchorage of The Narrows in New York Harbor on May 30, 1973, fully loaded with 319,402 barrels (50,780.9 m3) of light Nigerian crude oil destined for Exxon's Bayway Refinery. While she waited for the high tide, her mixed European crew of 36 men and one woman, first steward Gisele Rome, under the command of Captain Constant Dert went about their daily routine into the evening of the 30th. When the 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. watch came on duty all seemed normal.
At roughly the same time, the containership Sea Witch left the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island. She headed for the sea, carrying some 730 containers on board. Twenty-nine minutes after midnight, the Sea Witch passed the ferry terminal at the tip of St. George, Staten Island and turned to a heading of 167 degrees in order to begin transiting the Narrows separating Staten Island from Brooklyn. Seven minutes later the Sandy Hook pilot Jack Cahill ordered a change in course to 156 degrees so the ship would pass through the shipping lane in the general anchorage. The second turn never occurred. When the ship did not respond as expected, the helmsman told the Captain that Sea Witch was no longer steering. Both the captain's and the pilot's attempts to re-engage the steering gear and check the Sea Witch's continuing turn to starboard proved futile.
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Wikipedia