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The Seacrest Drill Ship a.k.a 'The Scan Queen'(Southern Gulf of Thailand) Depth 70meters ; Trimix diving only
Tonnage : 4,400 gross tonnage, Length : 110 m Breadth : 20 m Draught :6m Details of Sinking:- Sunk by 'Typhoon Gay' 1989. 91 rig workers of many nationalities were killed in the disaster, leading to a massive legal case brought against the ships owners UNOCAL by over 90 bereaved relatives from around the world. After the vessel capsized and the storm blew through, the rescue authorities had problems located it, leading to the only 2 survivors of the calamity spending an unusually long amount of time in the water prior to recovery. The sinking represented the third worst oil rig disaster anywhere, though there is little or no mention of the loss on the www oil rig disaster sites. Investigation revealed the reason the rig went over was that the drill ship had the Derrick full of 200 ton of pipe, and was still connected to the well head at the time the storm hit leading to a high C of G and compromised stability. Standard practice with this type of vessel is to lay down pipe when bad weather threatens - UNOCAL said no, to save time. = 91 dead. The legal proceedings that followed the sinking are mentioned by UNOCAL's legal representatives at http://www.susmangodfrey.com/clientssay.html and at http://www.susmangodfrey.com/practice/practice_foreign.html "In Sandoval v. UNOCAL, our client UNOCAL owned the drill ship Seacrest which capsized during Typhoon Gay in the Gulf of Thailand in 1989. Plaintiffs representing over 90 decedents sued UNOCAL in Texas and throughout the world. Our lawyers were required to completely learn the Thai civil code in order to defend the case." The unique character of 'Typhoon Gay' which sunk hundreds of fishing vessels with its 100knt+ winds and 40ft waves is discussed at https://www.cnmoc.navy.mil/nmosw/thh_nc/thailand/sattahip/text/sect7.htm . "Typhoon Gay hit Southern Thailand Chumphon province in 1989, the only typhoon-strength storm ever to reach Thailand in recorded history. Gay killed 529 people and left 160,000 homeless". note:- Access to the Typhoon gay data is via a secure US military web site. You will need to accept a security certificate to read the extract.The worlds worst oil rig disaster was the catastrophic fire on the Occidental Oil platform 'Piper-Alpha' located in the North Sea late in the evening of 6 July 1988, causing a devastating blaze which killed 167 of the 226 men on board. Other mobile oil rig disasters include Alexander L. Kielland(123 dead-1980), Ocean Ranger(84 dead-1984) US-OIL drill ship(81 dead-1981). +++ Listings of Major Oilrig disaster are available at the following links:- http://oilrigwork.netfirms.com/Accidents.htm http://www.oilrigdisasters.co.uk
Wrecks details Southern Gulf of Siam approx 40nm Offshore of Songkhla. Exact position:- <contact MV trident> depth 55 meters The wreck lies on her post side with her back broken (the derrick hit the seabed first, but is nowhere to be seen at he wreck site). The wrecks depth and remote location puts this wreck out of reach to all but the highest trained Technical divers experienced in accelerated decompression techniques necessary to safely dive this wreck.. Last dived by:- Fred Evans(deceased) UNOCAL Last updates:- 20 April 2007,Jamie Macleod Jamie MacLeod on the MV Trident jamie@techthailand.com 15 May 2007, Simon Marquis simon@oilrigdisasters.co.uk , http://www.oilrigdisasters.co.uk
Anonymous Contributors - A note of thanks I am indebted to the many friends and relatives of those who perished in this sinking who have contacted me with information to contribute to this shipwreck disaster research page. Many still work in the oil industry and all have asked to remain anonymous. Many have quoted fear from the enormous negative publicity and multi-million dollar legal action kicked up by this disaster that still exists to this day, or the fear of loosing their jobs if they say anything that may considered in breach of commercial confidence. If you have any information or corrections to the data on this page that you would like to contribute anonymously, or if you would like your contact details forwarded to other personnel effected by this tragedy, please contact me, and I will forward your contact details to them for consideration. |
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