Day/date: September 23, 1987



                                 FIELD INCIDENT REPORT

Incident type: Follow-up: Ship Collision and Sinking
Log number: 87-233B
Date/time of incident: 9/21, 420 pm PDT Date/time received: 9/22, noon EDT
Park: Channel Islands    Location: 4 miles due west of San Miguel Island
Reported by: Nick Wyland, CHIS (via Herb Gercke, WRO)
Received by: Bill Halainen, RAD, WASO

Summary:
The 150-meter-long Pacific Baroness, which was involved in an accident with
the Atlantic Wing yesterday morning, sank while under tow four miles
west of San Miguel, the westernmost island in the park. The ship's fuel
tanks have ruptured, and are spilling an unknown percentage of the 320,000
gallons that were on board into the ocean. Fish and Wildlife is reporting
a 10-mile-wide slick between Point Concepcion and San Miguel, but NPS
observers on the island have not yet seen it. An observer from the park
is going up in an aircraft this morning to look for it. The Coast Guard
is assembling a strike team on the mainland, and is also in the process of
setting up an information center which will provide further updates on
developments (no phone number for the center is yet available). It is not
yet known whether the ship's holds, which contain a cargo of granulated
copper ore, have been ruptured. As noted before, there is considerable
concern about the effects of the toxic copper if it spills into the ocean.


New York Daily News Wednesday, September 23, 1987

3,000 feet into Davy Jones' locker

LADEN with copper ore, the Liberian freighter Pac Baroness settles into
the Pacific Ocean, 16 miles off Point Conception, Calif., and about 125
miles northwest of Los Angeles. It sank (below) after colliding in dense
early morning fog with another cargo ship, the 494-foot, 20,252-ton
Panamanian earner Atlantic Wing, which was carrying a load of Hondas.
The 564-foot, 14,412-ton Pac Baroness went down despite a grim battle by
ship's officers to keep it afloat. Finally the crew was evacuated
without reported injury but the ship went down 3,000 feet, probably too
deep for salvage, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The Atlantic Wing
continued to its destination despite extensive damage. Coast Guard said
it will keep an eye on area off Port Conception for signs of pollution.