MV Spartan Lady

MV Spartan Lady was an oil tanker that sank in 1975.

It was built by Wilton-Fijenoord, and was launched on October 16, 1954, and delivered in January 1955 as Sologne.^[1] it measured 170 metres (560 ft) with a beam of 22.6 metres (74 ft) and a deadweight tonnage of 19,788 DWT.^[1] it was powered by a single diesel engine that gave it a service speed of 14.5 knots (16.7 mph).^[1] In 1972, it was renamed Spartan Lady, and at the time of its loss was flagged in Liberia, owned by Compania Marittma Laconia, and operated by Sea Spartan Steamship Agency.^[2]^[1]

On April 4, 1975, Spartan Lady was sailing through heavy seas about 150 miles (240 km) south of Martha's Vineyard^[3] when it sent a distress call at about 0810 local time.^[2] The United States Coast Guard dispatched four helicopters that arrived about two hours later, by which time the vessel had split in two.^[2] The Coast Guard airlifted all 36 crew members from the ship, though one subsequently died en route to shore.^[2] The survivors were flown to Coast Guard facilities on Governor's Island in New York and in Hyannis, Massachusetts.^[2] Spartan Lady's cargo of 500,000 gallons of oil was spilled into the ocean, though it was driven away from the coastline.^[2] It took several days for the wreckage of the ship to sink, and the Coast Guard eventually had to sink the bow section with gunfire.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Spartan Lady (5333646)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "One Dead, 35 Rescued as Tanker Splits in Heavy Seas". The New York Times. April 5, 1975. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Quinn, William (1979). Shipwrecks Around New England. Orleans, MA: The Lower Cape Publishing Company. p. 194. ISBN 0-936972-05-X.