MV Spartan Lady

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

She was built by Wilton-Fijenoord, and was launched on October 16, 1954 and delivered in January 1955 as Sologne.[1] She measured 170 metres (560 ft) with a beam of 22.6 metres (74 ft) and a deadweight tonnage of 19,788 DWT.[1] She was powered by a single diesel engine that gave her a service speed of 14.5 knots (16.7 mph).[1] In 1972, she was renamed Spartan Lady, and at the time of her 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 she 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

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