Digital Extra

I remember heading to the scene from my East Providence office with LTJG Joe Rock, the investigating officer assigned to the case. There were times we could barely see where we were going on I-95 South in the driving, freezing rain. We could smell the diesel oil when we were still a few miles from Point Judith CG Station and I knew then that this wasn't going to be a simple case of we'll-pull-it-off-at-the-next-high-tide.

The Coast Guard helo that hoisted the last tug crew member off the grounded barge took me up to the spill site at around midnight. I've never been in a helo in bad weather. I sure hope I don't have to do it again.

Despite the freezing wind and rain, we opened the helo's side door to get a better view of the barge in the pitch black darkness. One of the helo crew members used a hand-held spotlight to illuminate the water crashing around the barge.

Despite the noise of the helo and the bouncing around from the gusting winds, I got my first sickening look at the reddish diesel coming out of the damaged barge.

Over the next 7 days we got an excellent team of Coast Guard, State and Responsible Party resources to respond to the spill and salvage the damaged barge. The going was slow. Whenever we seemed to be making headway towards getting the oil out of the barge onto other vessels, the weather would turn bad on us.

I saw a TV video of a mooring line between the NORTH CAPE and one of the response vessels snapping. I've read of other shipboard accidents where mooring lines have snapped in a similar manner and killed people. As the officer in charge of the operation, I was constantly aware that there were many lives at risk. We had to get the job done, but we had to do it safely.

I was fortunate that the team of Coasties, State personnel and the contractors hired by the tug/barge owners were all good at their jobs, real professionals. I can't thank them enough for doing the work they did, under trying circumstances, to mitigate the impact of the grounding.

Others helped, too. The Red Cross provided meals; the local and State police helped with security of the Command Post and the clean-up sites. Tom, the janitor at the Galilee Dutch Inn (where our forward command post was located) was there at 4:00 AM til late each night making sure the coffee was made and any problems were addressed. They were all part of the team. I want to thank them, too. They were a big, big help.

As the Federal On Scene Coordinator for any marine oil spill in R.I. or southeastern Massachusetts, I have a lot of work and a relatively small unit to handle the work. Luckily, we also have a plan in place to muster Federal, State and commercial resources when "the big one" goes down. In this case, I think the plan was well-executed.

As with all events, we intend to study what we did, and see how we can improve the plan even more although hopefully, we won't have to mount this large a response any time again soon - if ever.

I'll keep an eye on my e-mail. If people have questions or suggestions for improvement, I'll be more than happy to "listen". Again, thanks to the team and all the local community who came together in tough times.

Cap'n P. A. "Barney" Turlo

Captain of the Port, Providence

NOTE: The Rhode Island HORIZONS staff wishes to thank Cap'n Barney for sharing his account of the North Cape oil spill with us. We appreciate his special effort, made at our request, during this hectic time.