Posted on: Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Flight finds no new leak at wreck
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
A Coast Guard overflight yesterday spotted no new oil leaking from the wrecked 145-foot ship Casitas, which went aground at 2 a.m. Saturday on the northern side of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, 1,000 miles from Honolulu.
Coast Guard Crews during previous overflights Sunday and Monday spotted a sheen of oil on the water, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson. One report indicated that the sheen extended 500 yards to the south of the vessel, which would have carried it over the reef.
No one was injured when the ship hit the reef. All 23 people aboard got off safely onto small boats. They were rescued by the NOAA vessel Oscar Elton Sette and taken to Midway Atoll, about 90 miles to the northwest.
The Casitas was under contract to NOAA by its owners, Richard and Peter Kelly of the West Coast firm Fish Vessel Northwind Inc., according to Johnson. It had a crew of seven and 16 NOAA divers, who were to collect marine debris caught on reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
Wende Goo, Pacific region representative for NOAA Fisheries, said she had not received a report on the cause of the crash. "That's being handled by the Coast Guard. Our focus has been on getting our people home safely," she said.
The Coast Guard has a C-130 plane making regular reconnaissance flights over the wreck from Midway. Yesterday, a second C-130 flew three oil-spill specialists to Midway. The team was to be taken to Pearl and Hermes today on the Oscar Elton Sette.
Meanwhile, the 225-foot Coast Guard cutter Walnut is heading to the area and is expected to arrive at Midway on Friday, Johnson said. The vessel is carrying oil-spill recovery gear, she said.
Pearl and Hermes Atoll, with 450 square miles of reef area, was the site of a pearl-oyster fishery in the 19th century. It is a breeding ground for seals, sea turtles and sea birds. The atoll is now part of a national wildlife refuge.
The atoll gets its name from two British whaling ships, the Pearl and the Hermes, which wrecked there in 1822 — discovering the atoll in the process.
One of the issues, even today, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is that some navigational charts for the islands are based on early surveys and are not entirely accurate. The Coast Guard cutter Kukui reported last year that when it anchored off Pearl and Hermes, its satellite navigational signals placed it inside the lagoon when plotted on the chart.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
The isolated wreck, with more than 33,000 gallons of diesel, gasoline and other petroleum products aboard, is still a spill risk, but it will be at least several days before recovery efforts are launched. Oil-spill experts from the Coast Guard are expected to arrive at the scene today.
The 145-foot research vessel Casitas, with more than 33,000 gallons of petroleum products aboard, ran aground at 2 a.m. Saturday at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. The crew was rescued by another vessel.
