Shipwreck one
Name of the Vessel: Jacob Luckenbach
When: July, 1953
Where: Less than 20 miles beyond the Golden Gate Bridge
Threat: Leaked 300,000 gallons or more.
Reason for Shipwreck: Collision with another vessel, the Hawaiian Pilot
Aftermath: Resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 birds between 1990 and 2003.
Shipwreck two
Name of the Vessel: Gulfstate
When: April 1943
Where: Florida Keys
Threat: 3.5 million gallons of bunker oil still in tact within the vessel.
Reason for Shipwreck: Torpedoed by a German U-boat
Aftermath: Threat to Florida’s coral reefs and sea life.
Shipwreck three
Name of the Vessel: USS Arizona
When: Dec. 7, 1941
Where: Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor
Threat: An estimated 500,000 gallons remain inside
Reason for Shipwreck: Bombed and sank in a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Aftermath: The oil is visible on the water’s surface at the USS Arizona Memorial on the Hawaiian island of Oahu
Shipwreck four
Name of the Vessel: Argo
When: October 1937
Where: Lake Erie north east of Sandusky, Ohio
Threat: Laden with over 200,000 gallons of crude oil and benzol
Reason for Shipwreck: Violent storm
Aftermath: Oily sheen on the water, a strong smell of solvent in the area and discoloration on the water’s surface.
Shipwreck five
Name of the Vessel: Joseph M. Cudahy
When: May 1942
Where: In the Gulf of Mexico about 125 miles west of Naples, Florida.
Threat: Contains more than 300,000 gallons of oil
Reason for Shipwreck: Torpedoed by a German U-boat
Aftermath: Surface oil slicks there for years, which often get worse after storms.
Shipwreck six
Name of the Vessel: W.E. Hutton
When: March 1942
Where: Off the coast of North Carolina
Threat: Contains 2.7 million gallons of heating oil
Reason for Shipwreck: Torpedoed by a German U-boat
Aftermath: Black globs rising to the ocean surface and an oily sheen several miles offshore of Cape Lookout.
Shipwreck seven
Name of the Vessel: Coimbra
When: January 1942
Where: Off the coast of Long Island
Threat: Carried more than three million gallons of lubricating oil
Reason for Shipwreck: Torpedoed by a German U-boat
Aftermath: Several mysterious oil spills and incidents of tar balls washing ashore on Long Island beaches over the years.
Shipwreck eight
Name of the Vessel: Edmund Fitzgerald
When: 1975
Where: Lake Superior
Threat: Still consists of 50,000 gallons of the highly destructive heavy-grade fuel oil
Reason for Shipwreck: Storm
Aftermath: Classified as a medium pollution risk
Source: Mother Nature Network