Shell tug helps avert Alaska shipwreck

A workboat stationed at Dutch Harbor to support Shell’s Kulluk offshore drilling rig got a chance to play the hero recently, and it delivered splendidly.

The call came Dec. 3 when the cargo ship Golden Seas, laden with rapeseed used to make canola oil, lost engine power in the Bering Sea north of Adak Island in the Aleutians. The ship, which also carried more than 450,000 gallons of fuel oil, was drifting rapidly toward land and authorities were fearful of a repeat of the Selendang Ayu shipwreck of 2004.

The Tor Viking II, a powerful oceangoing tug, was contracted to go fetch the hobbled cargo ship, adrift some 350 miles to the west. The tug is part of Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet waiting at Dutch Harbor for clearance to begin operations.

Fortunately, the Golden Seas regained enough power to arrest its drift toward the rocks. And to give the crew of the Tor Viking II time to reach the ship and attach a thick tow line.

Incident commanders noted the crew’s skill in attaching the line “under conditions of darkness and extreme seas and weather.”

On Dec. 7, the Tor Viking II delivered the 738-foot Golden Seas safely to Broad Bay at Dutch Harbor, where the ship anchored for engine repairs.

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 break ice, too. Viking Supply Ships of Norway manages the boat.

—Wesley Loy