The Tragedy of the Oil Tanker 'María Alejandra'

Mar Oil was a Spanish company linked to the Wilson Walton group, chaired by Germán García Monzón, which began its voyages in April 1977 with the oil tanker "María Alejandra," the last of the ships built at the Cádiz Shipyards, being the 101st construction from that factory. This vessel had been afloat since August 1975, after the original contract was canceled by the Italian company D’Amico Societá di Navigazione.

It was a ship of 122,599 gross tons, 92,199 net tons, and 239,511 deadweight tons. It measured 326.65 m in overall length – 313 m between perpendiculars – 51.66 m in beam, 26.18 m in depth, and 22.73 m in maximum draft. It could carry 283,813 cubic meters in 19 tanks and was powered by a Burmeister & Wain engine, with 32,560 horsepower, maintaining a speed of 14 knots. IMO Code 7386233.

When its outfitting was completed, on March 10, 1977, it conducted official sea trials, and on April 11, it was delivered to its owners, with Augusto Vila Miranda as its first captain. Since its commissioning, it was chartered by CEPSA, making trips to the Persian Gulf via the Cape of Good Hope, unloading at the refineries in Algeciras and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

On March 4, 1980, the Spanish tanker "María Alejandra" arrived at the bay of Algeciras from Ras Tanura (Persian Gulf) with a cargo of crude oil for the CEPSA refinery. During the unloading, some issues arose with the inert gas system; nevertheless, the operation was completed, finishing by mid-morning on the 6th, after which preparations began for the next voyage, including tank ballasting and the supply of bunkering, provisions, and respect for the engine room.

In the early hours of the 8th, the ship – captain, Alfredo Videa Ansoleaga – set sail again without having resolved the issues with the inert gas system, of which the company itself was aware, as was the Lloyd’s inspection, which withdrew the IGS classification until the repair was completed.

On the morning of the 10th, the tanker made a technical stop about six miles from the port of La Luz and Las Palmas [1], although without stopping completely, to allow the approach of a HELICSA helicopter carrying two passengers and one crew member. The first two were retired captain Anthony J. Wilson [2], a senior executive of the Wilson Walton International Ltd. group and advisor to Mar Oil, and nurse Ann C. Hutchinson, who accompanied him for care during the voyage. The third was sailor Cecilio Cabrera Pérez, who could not board during the ship's stay in Algeciras.

After boarding the three mentioned individuals, the tanker continued its journey, altering its course to align with the planned route. The engine room staff prepared to install the two repaired inert gas system fan motors, while the deck crew finalized the tank cleaning preparations for the following morning.

At the start of the workday on the 11th, it was noted that the problems with the inert gas system persisted, as well as issues with a turbo pump and one of the boilers, which kept the engine room staff and the first officer on deck, Juan José Romaní Lestón, quite busy, as he was the only one on board with the inert gas course certificate, since at that time the Spanish maritime administration did not require such a title for boarding oil tankers.

At around 1 PM, when the staff had already eaten, the cleaning of tank No. 1 center was deemed complete, although it was decided to give it a 15 or 20-minute review before continuing with the next one. On the bridge, where the second officer, Ignacio Boy Cutilla, along with a student and the watch sailor, were present, Captain Wilson arrived, shortly joined by his nurse to inform him that lunch was ready in his cabin; and the chief engineer, Manuel Valle Polanco, who liked to know the ship's route at that hour and conversed with his friend and fellow countryman, the mentioned officer.

The Spanish tanker 'María Alejandra' had a short life

At that hour, it was quite warm on the bridge, and a bothersome wind had risen with a speed of about 20 knots, with the height of the waves clearly increasing. The ship was about 490 miles south of the Canary Islands. At the last moment, another trainee came up to the bridge to assist with the meridian calculations.

Suddenly, at 1:30 PM, a strong explosion was felt. “On the bridge – writes Manuel Rodríguez Aguilar – the windows of the forward glass shattered. The chief engineer and the trainees instinctively dropped to the floor, while the second officer, who was leaning on the course table doing calculations, managed to shield himself from the rain of glass by using it as a barrier. When everyone looked towards the bow, they saw that the explosion had caused a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke as if it were a small atomic bomb”[3].

A few seconds later, a second explosion occurred, much stronger than the first, which shook the ship, left it without control and electricity, and caused a fire, beginning to tilt forward. Panic seized all the crew members. Flames and dense smoke entered through the broken windows of the bridge, and the lights went out. The magnitude of the deflagration caused the deck to disintegrate, launching pieces of steel plates, pipes, valves, and other metal parts into the air, some of which struck the superstructure and others even flew over the bridge to fall on the poop deck.

In a very short time, a third explosion occurred, located in the pump room, although of lesser intensity than the previous one. Practically simultaneously with this, a fourth explosion occurred. Considering the hypotheses maintained by some of the survivors, the most damaged part in these last two explosions was the bulkhead separating the pump room from the engine room, which was completely destroyed. This bulkhead was less resistant than those of the cargo tanks, which could confirm the strong flash observed from inside the elevator by the second engineer, Cayetano García García, who managed to escape through the ceiling hatch and saw how the engine room was illuminated.

“I was in the elevator with a greaser. When I was on the first floor, we felt a very strong explosion, and the elevator stopped between two floors, although the lights did not go out. Five seconds later, another explosion was heard, and everything went dark. I opened the elevator hatch and escaped through the opening to the emergency door, and there the water surrounded me, bringing me to the surface.”

Due to the explosions, some bulkheads of the “slop” tank, which contained oil and water residues, also broke and began to burn. Several patches of crude oil formed on the sea surface, which quickly began to drift in various directions favored by the wind and waves.

The tanker had been built on behalf of an Italian shipowner

The last two explosions also caused severe damage to the starboard side and completely destroyed the lifeboat located on that side. When the port “slop” tank was emptied, the ship tilted slightly to starboard, and the tearing of the lining of tanks No. 7 and 8 caused the bow section to open towards the port side.

The entire structure had weakened due to the tears produced, causing the ship to practically break in two, approximately at the height of the lateral tanks No. 6 or 7. The breakage of the two sections caused a sudden influx of seawater into the fractured hull, favored by the ship's forward inertia, whose speed in ballast was about 16 knots, which caused the stern to be abruptly braked and the furniture to shift, as noted by the people who were on the bridge at that moment, forcing them to hold on to avoid falling. Without obstacles in its path, the water quickly flooded the engine room, causing the stern section to sink irretrievably at the same speed, contributing to the complete breakage of the ship.

After the chain of explosions, the first reaction of the tanker "María Alejandra" was to bury itself at the bow before righting itself again. It then began to sink at the stern until, after a general lifting movement, it sank completely when the hull had already broken in two. The stern section, separated from the rest and without watertightness, disappeared, leaving the shipwrecked with a strange sensation from the sound produced as water entered through the chimney. A few seconds later, the bow section, just like a submerged cork, suddenly reappeared on the surface while still having enough buoyancy.

The crew members who managed to get outside jumped into the water and tried to swim away as quickly as possible, aware that the sinking of the ship could suck them in. “I don’t know exactly how long it took – recalls Ignacio Boy – as I tried to get out and away from the fire in the water, as well as the whirlpool formed by the sinking. However, others say it was two or three minutes, not a second more.” The cries of the crew members in the water became increasingly desperate, as some of those who survived the detonations – according to testimonies from their companions – succumbed to digestion cuts.

Backlit, on its first discharge for CEPSA in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The sinking of the tanker "María Alejandra" occurred at position 20º 32’ N North and 18º 13’ W, about 67 miles from the Cabo Blanco lighthouse and at a depth of about 1,200 m. Due to the suddenness of the explosions and the sinking, an orderly rescue could not be organized, so everyone sought the best way to save their lives, and an SOS could not be sent, despite the radio officer being in his cabin, adjacent to the radio telegraphy room, which left the shipwrecked abandoned to their fate.

When the stern section disappeared beneath the waters, several inflatable lifeboats, a small dinghy, and some debris, such as wooden planks, cork rafts, various barrels, plastic boats, and furniture floated on the surface. The bow section remained afloat although it was gradually sinking at the stern and tilting to starboard. For this reason, the shipwrecked could observe that when the ship was tilted, a large longitudinal gap was visible on the deck, in tank No. 1 center, near the crow's nest, although due to the distance and the fall of night, it was no longer clear whether the mast was still there or had also flown away. When it got dark, the bow was still two or three meters out of the water, and around two in the morning, it sank definitively.

The current and the strong prevailing wind dragged the survivors, and under these conditions, they remained for almost twelve hours. The OBO Liberian "Sequoia" and the Norwegian tanker "Thorshavet" came to their aid. The former located a flare launched from a raft and rescued five of them with great effort: Ignacio Boy, Mauro Rodríguez, Francisco Martínez, José Iglesias, and Juan Antonio Núñez. At 11:23 PM, the second of the aforementioned vessels informed the coastal radio station of Las Palmas that the Spanish tanker "María Alejandra" had sunk in just 40 seconds as a result of several explosions and that several crew members had been rescued. At 12:55 AM the next day, the Spanish Navy authorities were informed of the news.

Immediately, a search device was established in which, in addition to the two tankers, the factory ship "L’ Interpeche," which had left the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife a few days earlier and was heading to the fishing grounds of Cabo Blanco, participated, along with five fishing boats that provided logistical support. This ship carried a helicopter that proved very useful in the rescue operations. After picking up the five shipwrecked from the raft, the crew of the "Sequoia" also rescued Cayetano García García and one of the fishing boats from the factory ship "L’ Interpeche," José Sendón Sendón. When it came time for the count, of the 43 crew members and passengers, only seven were alive.

Main deck of the tanker 'María Alejandra' sailing in bad weather

At dawn on the 12th, the Panamanian oil exploration vessel "Discoverer Seven Seas," also equipped with a helicopter, joined the search operations. More wreckage from the "María Alejandra" was sighted, and the first bodies also appeared. All showed burns and were blackened by smoke and oil. A total of seven bodies were recovered, still unidentified, which were taken to the Cypriot refrigerated ship "Luehesand" for transfer to Las Palmas. The OBO "Sequoia," with five survivors, also changed course to head to Las Palmas, where it arrived on the 14th.

A helicopter transported the greaser Francisco Martínez to be treated by the doctor of the ship "L’ Interpeche," due to the severity of his injuries. Later, both he and José Sendón were evacuated to Nouadhibou, where they boarded an Iberia plane that took them to Las Palmas, being transferred to the Seafarers' House and the Santa Catalina Clinic, where they were hospitalized.

Throughout the day on the 12th, the search efforts were hampered by the fog that lifted in the area where the sinking occurred. Despite this new setback, the search did not stop, although it was conducted more slowly. As time passed, hopes of finding other survivors alive began to fade.

On the 13th, the Spanish tanker "Gibraltar" joined the effort, although the endeavor proved fruitless, finding only an empty raft with its oars, identified as coming from the "María Alejandra." The Spanish Navy authority, knowing that the scene of the events was far away and that the chances of finding survivors were minimal, ordered the departure of the high-altitude patrol boat "Atrevida".

The news of the sinking shocked public opinion. The President of the Government, Adolfo Suárez, sent a telegram of condolence on the 13th to the president of Mar Oil, Germán García Monzón, with the following literal tenor:

“I ask you to convey to the families of the victims of the sinking of the ship María Alejandra my deepest condolences and my most sincere solidarity due to the tragedy that occurred the day before yesterday.”

It was an unlucky ship that took almost all its crew with it

On the morning of the 14th, aboard the Cypriot refrigerated ship "Luhesand," which had its flag at half-mast, the bodies of seven corpses found floating in the vicinity of the incident arrived in Las Palmas. The rest, a total of 29, were declared missing after the unsuccessful search concluded.

The Cypriot merchant was received by the Navy authorities and the civil governor of the province, as well as hundreds of people. Subsequently, the bodies were unloaded and transported to the Forensic Anatomical Institute for identification. Once examined and, in some cases, recognized by some relatives, the following official list of names was given: José María Castro Dieles, from La Coruña; Pedro Cantón Flandes, from Melilla; José Hurtado Alba, from Tenerife; Juan José Romaní Lestón, from Vigo; Cecilio Cabrera Pérez, from Tenerife; Severiano Rosado Mesa, from Tenerife; and José García Montenegro, from Las Palmas. The latter was identified by his own brother, who came to the Institute for that purpose.

At the time of unloading the lifeless bodies of the crew members of the tanker "María Alejandra," the General Director of Maritime Transport, Rodríguez Guerra, was at the dock, who stated regarding the origin of the tragedy that “at the moment, no hypotheses can be ventured, although what seems most probable is that the explosion of the ship was due to gases accumulated in its tanks.”

“We are concerned about the situation of the families of the victims,” declared upon his arrival at Las Palmas airport, the president of the Social Institute of the Navy, Julio Cienfuegos, who traveled to the island to closely follow the case of the sunken tanker.

According to initial estimates, the capitalization of indemnities by the mutual insurance company to the families of the victims would amount to around 700 million pesetas, and the loss of the ship would cost the insurance company about 3 billion pesetas, an amount that would be financed by a banking entity with which a commitment had previously been established in case of an accident like the one that occurred.

Upon arriving in Las Palmas, the second officer on deck, Ignacio Boy Cutilla, declared that “I was on watch on the bridge when the first explosion occurred; it would be around 1:30 PM, precisely when I was passing the meridian. All the windows shattered, and immediately a second explosion occurred. I ran out to raise the alarm when the ship was already beginning to tilt forward; a third explosion occurred, and then I was thrown off. I estimate that twenty seconds after the first explosion, I was already in the water and began to swim desperately. I did not see the tanker sink, as at that moment I only thought about getting away from the fire and not being caught by the whirlpool of the ship as it sank.”

The second officer added that he saw an overturned boat and several companions approaching. Five of them tried to right it, but they could not. “Many died from digestion cuts, as we had lunch half an hour earlier; I also had a cut, but I did not sink because I was wearing a life jacket. Later, I saw several companions on the surface holding onto anything, and we stayed like that until we located a raft; it would be around 10 PM when we spotted the first ship that later picked us up.”

Another tanker from the series, 'Haven', ex 'Amoco Milford Haven', also had a tragic end

Juan Antonio Núñez stated that he was cleaning the ship's pool when the explosions occurred: “I managed to grab a railing, and at that moment a strong wave threw me into the sea; I grabbed a barrel, and after several hours, I was able to reach a raft. I did not see the ship sink, as there was a lot of smoke, and at that moment I only thought about escaping from the fire.”

José Iglesias was taking a shower when the disaster occurred: “I quickly went down to the deck and saw myself swimming until I could reach a raft, which I later abandoned when the fire approached; later, I joined the few who survived.”

José Ramón Sendón reported that when the strong explosion that caused the sinking of the ship occurred, he was on the third deck. “Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard, and the ship began to sink, breaking in two. I then tried to open the door, which I managed with difficulty, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself engulfed in water. I thought I was going to die, but I decided to do it calmly and jumped into the sea. Then I was able to grab a plastic boat and drift away from the ship and the flames until, eight hours later, I found a piece of wood that saved my life.”

He recalled the screams of his companions who, from the port side of the ship, called for help, engulfed in flames. “Only those who were free that day survived. Those who were working died.” Apparently, the seven survivors were on the third deck at the time of the explosion. The rest of the 36 crew members and travelers were in other areas of the ship and “due to the rapid sinking, they must have been trapped in the María Alejandra” [4].

As for the other survivor hospitalized in Las Palmas, Francisco Martínez was caught by the explosion while he was asleep. “When I woke up, I realized that I was trapped in the cabin and that it was slowly flooding. When the water reached my neck, I managed to tear off the window and jump into the sea through it” [5].

One of the missing crew members, Ángel Botejara, the ship's waiter and a native of Guernica, was about to not embark because he wanted to celebrate his wedding. However, he decided to postpone it to earn a little more money on this trip and marry upon returning from the Persian Gulf.

The captain of the ship, Alfredo Videa Ansoleaga, was from Sopelana, although he had lived for years in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He was married to María del Carmen Muñoz de Bustillos Aguirre and had eight children, the oldest being 16 years old and the youngest three months. The widow is the sister of Antonio Muñoz de Bustillos Aguirre, a retired captain of CEPSA, and the daughter of the historic captain and inspector of the aforementioned company in Tenerife, Pedro Muñoz de Bustillos y Muñoz de Bustillos.

On the 18th, the Royal House sent a telegram to Mar Oil expressing condolences to the families of the victims of the shipwreck, with the following text:

“Deeply impressed by the tragedy of the María Alejandra, we thank you for communicating to all the families of the deceased and missing our most sincere condolences for their misfortune. Juan Carlos and Sofía.”

In the main parish of La Concepción, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, an imposing funeral was held, attended by some survivors, two of them from Tenerife, who never sailed again.

Of the 43 crew members and passengers of the tanker "María Alejandra," thirteen were Galicians, twelve Andalusians, two Basques, and two British. There were also twelve Canarians:

Horacio Herrera Ramos, from Vallehermoso, 53 years old; Severiano Rosado Mesa, from Icod el Alto, 45 years old; Celestino Ceballos Bethencourt, from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 34 years old; Higinio García Curbelo, from Tenerife, 26 years old; Luis Cañadillas Estévez, from La Laguna, 28 years old; Juan Pedro Alonso Laguera, from Tenerife, 26 years old; Antonio Tabares Dorta, from Arrecife de Lanzarote, 42 years old; José García Montenegro, from Las Palmas, 46 years old; and the ship's captain, Alfredo Videa Ansoleaga, from Bilbao and settled in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 45 years old.

The insurance society Lloyd’s ruled out the possibility that the sinking was the result of an act of piracy. “This leads us to think so because the 'María Alejandra' was in ballast,” stated the prestigious entity in an official statement. The tanker "Salem" sank in January 1980 off the coast of Senegal, a victim of an act of piracy with the tanks full of water. Four of the 22 tanks of the tanker "María Alejandra" were also filled with water as ballast.

The American insurance company New Hampshire Company refused to pay its 25% share in the co-insurance that covered the navigation of the tanker "María Alejandra." The payment it would have to assume amounted to about 750 million pesetas, and industry sources estimated that its refusal to comply stemmed from the fact that it had not reinsured at least 250 million of the total, making the risk assumed greater than the assets of the Spanish subsidiary of the company.

Mar Oil requested the General Directorate of Insurance to cancel the administrative authorization of the New Hampshire Insurance Co. insurance company, which claimed, in its defense, that a disaster of this nature was not included in the subscribed policy. Likewise, the shipping company of the tanker "María Alejandra" requested an inspection of the insurer and that the general director inform the relevant agency in the United States about its attitude.

On May 14, Mar Oil had received 2.25 billion pesetas from the other co-insurers (Banco Vitalicio de España, Compañía de Bilbao, La Unión y el Fénix Español, Nacional Hispánica Aseguradora, Unión Iberoamericana, Assicurazioni Generali, Plus Ultra, and Unión Levantina)[6].

Other tankers with tragic endings

The sunken vessel was part of a series of large tankers built at the Cádiz Shipyards during the great development of the Spanish merchant fleet, several of which also had a tragic end.

On March 16, 1978, the tanker "Amoco Cádiz" (233,690 TPM), delivered in 1974, ran aground and broke apart while sailing at position 48º 36’ 12” N and 4º 45’ 54” W, off the coast of France, spilling 230,000 tons of crude oil into the sea, thus causing one of the largest oil spills in history.

On April 3, 1980, the tanker "Mycene" (238,889 TPM), in service since 1975, disappeared south of Senegal, at position 7º 42’ N and 15º 10’ W, after suffering several explosions and a fire that split the hull in two while it was in ballast from Genoa to Ras Tanura. On this occasion, only one death was recorded.

The tanker 'Castillo de Bellver', lost in the waters of South Africa

On August 6, 1983, the tanker "Castillo de Bellver" (271,465 TPM), delivered in 1978, sank in South African waters with a cargo of 252,000 tons of crude oil. When sailing at position 33º 31’ S and 17º 06’ E, a fire broke out, and it subsequently broke in two, causing the disappearance of three crew members and a severe oil spill.

On December 4, 1987, the tanker "Actinia," which had recently sailed under the name "Gibraltar" (238,909 TPM), was attacked on December 4, 1987, during the “tanker war” in the Persian Gulf, resulting in serious damage when it was at position 27º 37’ N and 51º 20’ E. In 1991, it was renamed "FAL XXIV" and sold for scrap.

On April 11, 1991, the tanker "Haven," ex "Amoco Milford Haven" (232,162 TPM), which was put into service in 1993, exploded when it was about two miles from Arenzano, near Genoa, with a cargo of 144,000 tons of crude oil. Due to the explosion and the large fire it caused, the hull of the ship broke into several pieces three days later, and it was subsequently scrapped “in situ.”

The tanker 'Barcelona', after the attack suffered in the Iran-Iraq war

On May 14, 1988, the tanker "Barcelona" (230,009 TPM), delivered in 1973, was attacked by two Iraqi Mirage F-1 aircraft, sustaining at least five impacts while it was moored to the tanker Seawise Giant, which served as a floating terminal. Four crew members died, and another 26 managed to escape. At the time of the attack, the tanker "Seawise Giant" (564,739 TPM), the largest in the world, also suffered severe damage, and the tankers "Argosy" and "Burmah Endeavour" were also affected.

The tanker "Barcelona," which at the time of the attack had loaded about 140,000 tons of crude oil, was beached at the bow to prevent sinking. Three days later, a strong explosion occurred in one of its tanks, followed by a terrifying fire. Due to the explosion, the tugboat "Scan Partner" caught fire and sank, losing all five of its crew members. Two other crew members from the tugboat "Ferdinand Verbiest" were thrown overboard and also died. The tugboats "Safir" and "Beaufort" also suffered damage.

The bow section of the tanker "Barcelona" was towed and scrapped at Gadani Beach in December 1989, while the stern section was first towed to Umm al Qaiwain and later to Alang in December 1990.

Others had better luck. The tanker "Bon Bateau," ex "Amoco Singapore" (232,162 TPM), in service since 1973, ended its days as a floating pontoon and was scrapped in 1985. Its twin "Pívot," ex "Gallart," ex "Amoco Europa" (232,164 TPM), delivered in 1975, was scrapped in Alang in September 1996. Another ship from the series, "Amoco Chicago" (238,5178 TPM), delivered in 1979, was scrapped in Kaohsiung (Taiwan) in December 1983.

Bibliography

Díaz Lorenzo, Juan Carlos (2006). Stopover in the Atlantic. The port of Tenerife and the CEPSA refinery. Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Diario de Avisos. Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

El Día. Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

El País. Madrid.

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. London.

Rodríguez Aguilar, Manuel. 5 great shipwrecks of the Spanish fleet. Madrid, 2004.

Photos: Archive of Ignacio Luján García, José de Barrasa Jiménez and Auke Visser