A team of U.S. Coast Guard divers and oil spill experts has begun efforts aimed at pumping tens of thousands of litres of bunker fuel from a legendary Canadian cruise ship that sank nearly 60 years ago off the southeast coast of Alaska.
Initial dives have shown that the submerged Princess Kathleen, a Canadian Pacific luxury liner that ran aground in a fiord north of Juneau in 1952, is loaded with at least 120,000 litres of oil that had begun seeping to the surface in recent months, prompting environmental concerns along one of the Pacific Coast’s most scenic tourist routes.
The wreck site is also close to a major marine research institute, making the situation potentially disastrous and the planned cleanup a particularly critical – and delicate – operation.
All 400 passengers and crew were rescued when the 120-metre, 5,900-tonne vessel ran aground on Sept. 7, 1952, and – over the course of several hours – slipped beneath the waves.
The ship was carrying a large quantity of fuel. And recent reports of oil slicks in the waters above the Princess Kathleen’s resting place near the entrance to the Lynn Canal – North America’s deepest fiord and part of the picturesque cruise route between Juneau and Skagway – led to an underwater inspection in late February.
That inspection prompted the pumping plan now being implemented.
Last week, a tank barge meant to receive the pumped-out oil took position near the wreck site off Point Lena. But concerns about damaging undersea cables delayed the mooring of the vessel pending an underwater probe.
Another ship with a boiler is scheduled to arrive in the area this week. Its task is to heat the oil contained in the Kathleen to allow it to be pumped efficiently to the barge.
Meanwhile, according to a status report issued Friday by Alaska’s environment department, a state oil-spill response agency has begun preparing a "containment boom" in waters "near environmentally sensitive areas as a precaution for the unlikely event of a large release" of oil when pumping operations begin.
The recovery mission is complicated by the fact that divers have so far been unable measure the volume of fuel left in four of the ship’s tanks.
Rusted rivets and other deteriorations in the fuel bunkers have also allowed oil to escape into some of the enclosed passageways and rooms of the ship, forcing officials to perform preliminary "vacuuming" throughout much of the wreck.
The drowned liner rests on a steep angle between 20 and 50 metres deep, adding extra challenges to what’s expected to be a multimillion-dollar cleanup operation.
The draining of the Kathleen’s fuel is intended to serve as a model for other oil-leak prevention projects among the thousands of sunken vessels in North American waters. The fact that the wreck lies close to the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute – a major U.S. scientific laboratory for environmental and oceanographic research – has added to the sense of urgency surrounding the fuel-recovery effort.
"We’re looking at an endemic problem," U.S. Coast Guard spokesman David Mosely recently told reporters in Alaska. "There is a potential across the U.S. and across the world . . . for a release such as we are having here, with the (Kathleen)."
Despite the ecological threat posed by the fuel-filled vessel, state officials have pledged to safeguard the heritage value of the Princess Kathleen wreck, a popular site for recreational divers and an important relic from a colourful era in Canadian history.
"Any action we take with regard to this vessel will be done in conjunction with our state and local partners, and balance our concern for the environment and its historical significance," Capt. Melissa Bert, commander of the Coast Guard’s Juneau section, said in February after announcing plans to probe the Kathleen for possible oil recovery.
The ship, built in Scotland in 1925, was a CP stalwart during a time when trips between Vancouver, Seattle and Victoria – and then north along the B.C. shore to Juneau and Skagway in Alaska – became hugely popular with North American tourists.
The Princess Kathleen also symbolizes a significant chapter in the history of Canada’s contributions to victory during the Second World War. The ship was deployed as a troop transport between 1939 and 1945, ferrying soldiers to strategic Mediterranean ports as Allied forces gradually pushed enemy armies out of southern Europe.
The Kathleen is also known to have carried Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust.
Initial plans to raise the ship after it sank in 1952 were later abandoned as too difficult and expensive. But artifacts recovered from the ship are on display in various places, including the Vancouver Maritime Museum, which has the Princess Kathleen’s starboard nameplates in its collection.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.