USCG honors tug crew for Alaska heroics

The U.S. Coast Guard has presented its Meritorious Public Service Award to the captain and crew of an oil industry workboat who rescued a disabled ship in December in Alaska’s Bering Sea.

The Tor Viking II, a powerful oceangoing tug, was stationed in Dutch Harbor in support of Shell’s Kulluk offshore drilling rig when word came that the cargo ship Golden Seas, bound from British Columbia to the United Arab Emirates laden with rapeseed used to make canola oil, had lost propulsion in heavy seas 350 miles to the west.

The 738-foot Liberian-flagged Golden Seas, which also carried more than 450,000 gallons of fuel oil, was drifting rapidly toward land and authorities feared a shipwreck.

28-hour transit

“The captain and crew of the Tor Viking II responded to the Coast Guard’s call for help and undertook a grueling 28-hour transit in order to reach the disabled vessel and tow it to safety, preventing a potential environmental disaster in an extremely sensitive area,” the Coast Guard said in a June 22 press release. “The Coast Guard greatly appreciates the crew’s selfless actions that went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Coast Guard officers presented the award to Finn Jorgenson, captain of the Tor Viking II, and his crew on June 20 in Sweden, where the tug is flagged.

The 275-foot Tor Viking II is what’s known as an anchor handler, used to manage enormous offshore drilling platforms. With engines totaling 18,300 horsepower, it can tow tremendous loads and can also break ice. Viking Supply Ships of Norway manages the boat.

—Wesley Loy