Past Oil Spills in Buzzards Bay

Related pages: Oil Spill Costs  |   Reporting Environmental Violations  |  Bouchard No. 120 Oil Volume

Bouchard No. 120 compared to other Buzzards Bay spills

By Dr. Joe Costa

Note: This page was first posted soon after the Bouchard No. 120 spill in 2003, and was largely static between 2004 and 2013. Because the page had some unresearched tentative information about spills prior to 1990, in August 2013 we investigated some newly available databases, reports, and press clippings that are now online. We also reviewed local town annual reports. Using this new information, we were able clarify the specifics of presumed 1940 and 1963 spills that had been posted, and we were able to include 6 additional spills from the 1970s and 1980s of which we were unaware when we first posted this page. A supposed 1940s spill of fuel oil was removed from the table as the barge that sank in 1947 at the south end of the bay carried coal. Most importantly, the summary now includes the ST-85 spill of 120,000 gallons of gasoline in 1986, the second largest hydrocarbon spill in the bay.

The 2003 Bouchard No. 120 oil spill was one of the largest oil spills in Buzzards Bay. It is the third largest hydrocarbon spill considering the 120,000 gallon ST-85 gasoline spill in 1986 and is also the largest spill of a heavy fuel oil (No. 6), which has different impacts to birds and shorelines that lighter fuels.

Buzzards Bay is a major transit route for small tanker and barge traffic transporting heating and industrial oil and gasoline into Sandwich, greater Boston and northern New England markets. Nearly 1.6 billion gallons of oil pass through the canal annually (circa early 2000s), with additional deliveries made to New Bedford. Buzzards Bay has been the site of several moderately large oil spills.

The largest spill occurred on September 16, 1969, when approximately 189,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil spilled when the barge Florida ran aground off West Falmouth. In recent years, improvements to navigation and more rigorous pilotage requirements are believed to be minimizing risks of spills in Buzzards Bay. Nonetheless, smaller spills from barge and vessel groundings in the bay have continued through 2013. Other notable groundings in Buzzards Bay include the grounding of the Bermuda Star off Cleveland Ledge in 1990, releasing 7,500 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil. There was also a 50 gallon spill that occurred when the QEII grounded off Sow and Pigs Reef near Cuttyhunk in 1992. The volume of oil spill was so low because the particular fuel tank that ruptured during the grounding was empty. In January 1996, the barge North Cape grounded off Moonstone Beach in Rhode Island, not far from the entrance to Buzzards Bay, and released 880,000 gallons of Number 2 fuel. This event raised concerns of local officials about oil preparedness and prompted funding by the Buzzards Bay NEP to support the acquistion of oil spill containment equipment for Buzzards Bay municipalities, and oil spill response training.

The type of oil, volume of oil, the time of year, and weather conditions at the time of the spill all have important implications to living resources and the environment. The Bouchard No. 120 spill was small compared to the multimillion-gallon oil spill disasters like the 1989 Exxon Valdez in Alaska or the Argo Merchant spill that occurred southeast of Nantucket in 1976. Nonetheless its impacts were high per gallon of oil spilled because Buzzards Bay is a relatively small body of water, with many sensitive resources. Even with only 98,000 gallons spilled, the conspicuous and adhesive nature of the No. 6 oil, and the complex craggy coastline, made cleanup a challenge, and environmental impacts were severe in some heavily oiled area. Had millions of gallons spilled in Buzzards Bay (the Bouchard No. 120 was carrying more than 4 million gallons), the impacts to Buzzards Bay would have been disasterous.

In the Table below, we list known major oil spills for Buzzards Bay, which we updated in 2013 with new information on some spills in the 1970s and 1980s now available online. It is worth noting that on some other websites and documents, the oil tanker Argo Merchant disaster of 1976 occurred in Buzzards Bay. This is incorrect. The Argo Merchant broke up southeast of Nantucket.

Table 43. Past oil spills in Buzzards Bay.
Date	Vessel Name	Vessel Type	Location	Type	Volume Spilled (gallons)	Comments
14-Nov-63	Dynafuel	Tank Barge	Collision occurred southern Buzzards Bay south of Mishaum Pt. Dartmouth, Empty tank barge sike while being towed to New Bedford	No. 2 Fuel Oil	unknown (residual oil in sunken barge)	A 1970s scientific report notes oil came ashore near Nyes Neck, North Falmouth, during the winter of 1963. This may have been the result of collision of the Norwegian freighter Fernview with the with the empty tank barge Dynafuel. The vessels were locked together and caught fire. The barge was towed to New Bedford afterwards but sank in 40 feet of water off New Bedford (the bow was salvaged). (view website with photos #1, view website with photos #2, view website with photos #3)
16-Sep-69	Florida	Tank Barge	Fassets Point, West Falmouth	No. 2 Fuel Oil	189,000	Final estimate was 4,500 barrels spilled.
9-Oct-74	Bouchard 65	Tank Barge	Cleveland Ledge (near canal entrance)	No. 2 Fuel Oil	7.500 to 36,500	Hampson and Moul (1978) list the spill as indeterminate volume, but may not reflect actual USCG reports. Accounts of spill totals between 1974 and 1977 in the 1977 Town of Bourne Annual report imply this spill could have been as high 40,000 gallons (1977 Town report excerpt). A retrospective article after the B120 oil spill in the Cape Cod Times suggest the spill was 25,000 gallons. In the USCG report “Polluting Incident Compendium Part III �” Historic Spills: 1969 – 1993, it is noted that in 1974, Massachusetts had 110 spills recorded, the largest of which was 21,000 gallons. A 1999 Coast Guard report on burning spills references the spill as 36,500 barrels, but probably should have read gallons. A Boston Globe article a few years after the spill cited 7,500 gallons.
28-Jan-77	Bouchard 65	Tank Barge	Cleveland Ledge	No. 2 Fuel Oil	81,144	The barge, carrying 3 million gallons, grounded and oil spilled on an ice-covered bay. Some was burned. Final estimate was 81,144 gallons (1,932 barrels) spilled, although initial press reports suggested 500,000 gallons spilled. The grounding ruptured four of the seven tanks.
2-Aug-77	Unknown	Unknown	Cape Cod Canal	No. 6 Fuel Oil	550	Reported in a table in the Town of Bourne 1977 Annual Report where 6 oil spills are listed as having occurred during 1977 in Town of Bourne waters. Four of those spills appear to be minor, with spill volumes listed as unknown.
1-Apr-78	Rhode Island	Tank Barge	Cape Cod Canal near Bourne Bridge	No. 2 Fuel Oil	6,000	Barge was carrying 77,300 gallons
24-Jan-85	Barge Corpus Christi	Tank Barge	South of Cleveland Ledge	No. 2 Fuel Oil	50-100	3×4 hole, anchored at Buoy 11
30-Oct-85	M/V Sun Bird	Cargo Ship	Wilkes Ledge, off Mishaum, Dartmouth	No. 4 Fuel Oil	2,500	A 310-foot cargo ship out Japan hit a shoal, causing a 2×20 foot-long gash that ruptured a central fuel tank.
17-Sep-86	T/B ST-85	Tank Barge	Cleveland Ledge	Gasoline	119,740	Tank barge under tow by the tug Seastar, grounded. Two port tanks were damaged, including a gash 60 feet long. Initial gasoline losses were estimated at 23,000 gallons, subsequent summaries list the spill as 119,740.
10-Jun-90	Bermuda Star	Cruise ship	Cleveland Ledge	No. 6 Fuel Oil	7,500	Cruise ship went aground, impacts to Naushon. Incident news has erroneous entry for a Burma Starr on June 11 with 110,000 gallons of number (actually the vessel fuel oil capacity).
18-Jun-90	Bouchard 145	Tank Barge	Cleveland Ledge	Diesel oil or heating oil	100-200	Navigational error, veered off course in fog. The 475-foot barge was loaded with 5 million gallons.
7-Aug-92	Queen Elizabeth II	Cruise ship	Sow and Pigs Reef, Cuttyhunk	No. 6? Fuel Oil	50	Empty fuel tank that was ruptured, spill from residual oil
27-Apr-03	Bouchard No. 120	Tank Barge	Entrance to Buzzards Bay	No. 6 Fuel Oil	98,000	Vessel travelling 6 knots 1/4 mile outside of lane marker near entrance channel to Buzzards Bay southwest of Gooseberry Point.
9-Nov-08	Southern Cross	Tugboat	Dartmouth waters, south Buzzards Bay	Diesel	110	Tugboat grounding and partial sinking
20-Mar-13	Justice	Tugboat	Stony Point, Wareham	Hydraulic Oil	330	The 93-foot tugboat lost its lower starboard drive unit, and the unit leaked 300 gallons of the 625 gallons of hydraulic oil contained within it.
This table does not include small less well documented spills prior to 1990. Spills prior to 1982 are generally poorly documented, and it was not until after 1990 that natural resource damage assessments were undertaken. The summary also does not include land based spills reaching the bay. For example, on February 7, 1975, five thousand gallons of home heating oil spilled into Sippican Harbor Marion (Boston Globe, Feb. 8, 1975, pg. 20). An entry for a possible fuel oil spill in southern Buzzards Bay during the 1940s was deleted from this table. This entry may have been confused with the sinking of the coal barge Cohasset sinking off Penikese on Jan 22, 1947, after striking and breaking tow at Hen and Chicks (read the Boston Globe account).

 

Past oil spills in Buzzards Bay: Just How many gallons were really spilled?

Oil spill estimates by the US Coast Guard may change during a spill investigation, but usually a final single value is settled upon as a best estimate. The unit of reporting is typically barrels of oil (=42 gallons). When these values are reported subsequently, or converted to other units, errors may be introduced. In the case of the 1969 Florida barge oil spill, keeping straight the final estimated volume of oil spilled proved next to impossible. For the Bouchard 65 spill in 1974, official Coast Guard estimates were not widely published, or reported inconsistently. The official final estimates for both these spills, and as well as other spills in Buzzards Bay, are often different from the values reported in some scientific reports and newspaper accounts. This page explains the sources of some of those reporting errors.

The Buzzards Bay NEP first reported the Florida oil spill as 185,000 gallons, based on our 1991 Management Plan, and then revised it to 175,000 in the interim, because numerous other sources reported the smaller quantity as the volume of the spill. However, the actual volume of the spill appears to have been 189,000 gallons as described below. In the case of the first Bouchard 65 spill in 1974, (there was a second Bouchard 65 spill in 1977), the volume spilled was likely to have been between 21,000 and 36,500 gallons (with the latter value being the mostly likely offciail estimate). It was briefly listed as 165,000 gallons on this website, and this value subsequently appeared in some newspaper accounts.

Errors in reporting of oil spills

When oil is spilled at sea, the responsible party, with guidance and review of the US Coast Guard, estimates the volume of oil spilled. Generally, this calculation is based on the difference between what the ship was known to have carried, and what was measured in the vessel after the accident (so-called ullage measurements). Ullage measurements involve the height of oil (or more accurately, the height of the air space) in each compartment, and the depth of any water, if any, in each of those compartments. Estimates are also made by taking account the initial transported volume, and measurements of the total volume either offloaded, by emergency craft, or offloaded at an oil terminal. It is not calculated by measuring recovered oil, because typically less than 10% of spilled oil is recovered. Many factors are used to refine the estimate of a spill including oil level gauges in the barge tanks, the degree of oil and water mixing in ruptured tanks, and even the temperature of the oil. If the amount of oil spilled is less than 1% of the total initial volume, many errors in can be introduced into the calculation and can affect the final estimates of oil spill volumes.

After this evaluation and review, the Coast Guard makes a final determination on the volume of the spill. This value represents a best estimate, and is usually included in a brief report to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). This final estimated volume of oil represents the “official” government estimate for the spill. Theoretically, everyone should cite this volume.

However, in the case of the 1969 and 1974 Buzzards Bay spills, apparently, the final accident reports were not widely distributed or publicized by the press, and original reports about these spills have proven very hard to find. Unsurprisingly, later investigators may recall or can find only the first press reports, or rely on subsequent scientific publications.

In the case of the Florida spill, there was considerable inconsistency in scientific publications about the volume of the spill. However, press reports two days after the spill gave the preliminary estimate of the spill as 4000 barrels, or 168,000 gallons. This preliminary estimate apparently was revised upward somewhat, because we found a 1975 Congressional Report from the Office of Technology Assessment that clearly identifies the Florida spill as 4500 barrels (189,000 gallons). These two values appear to explain the range reported in the scientific literature.

For the Bouchard 65 1974 spill, virtually nothing was published on the volume of the spill. The barge, carrying 3 million gallons of no. 2 fuel oil, struck bottom at Cleveland Ledge, rupturing 3 of the 10 tanks. It was then towed to shallow anchorage off Wings Neck to prevent the barge from sinking. Oil came ashore in North Falmouth and Bourne (Bassett’s Island, Red Brook Harbor, and Winsor Cove). The volume was sufficient to close shellfish beds in Bourne and Falmouth, and prompted the scientific investigation of oiled sediments in Winsor Cove. Because of the magnitude of the spill, it was highly likely that the Coast Guard would have developed an estimate of volume spilled. In our 1991 management plan, we provided no estimate of the spilled volume. This echoed the article by Hampson and Moul (1978) and subsequent scientific articles that list the spill as of “indeterminate volume.” This statement about the volume may have either reflected preliminary information from the Coast Guard, or the authors’ recognition of the reliability of oil spill estimates, and its irrelevancy to the study. Contemporary newspaper reports of the 1977 Bouchard 65 spill suggest that the 1974 spill was smaller than the 81,000 gallons released in 1977. The 1974 press accounts of the spill describe a sheen one mile long and 200 yards wide. The 94th Annual Report for the Town of Bourne (for the year 1977) states there were 12 spills between 1974 through the end of 1977 totaling a known spillage of 123,600 gallons, plus 4 spills of unknown quantity. All four spills of unknown quantity are listed as having occurred in 1977, along with two spills of known quantity. This suggests six spills occurred in Bourne from 1974 to 1976 with a known quantity and totaled 41,500 gallons. The Bouchard 65 1974 spill was among these. If the other 5 spills averaged 1,000 gallons each (arbitrary), the 1974 Bouchard 65 spill estimate would have been 36,500 gallons. A 1977 Boston Globe article on oil spill impacts on shellfish reffered to it as an 8,000 gallon spill.

A 1999 Coast Guard report evaluating the feasibility of burning spilled oils (Yoshioka et al., 1999) list the 1974 spill as 36,650 barrels (more than 1.5 million gallons). This is an obvious error in light of all press and scientific reports of the spill. An occasional sometimes observed in the early USCG pollution incident reporting system (PIRS) database was the entry of the “volume at risk” (i.e. the cargo volume) in the volume spilled field of the database. However, this does not appear to be the case, as the vessel was carrying 3 million gallons of fuel oil according to press reports. The more plausible explanation is that the units of the spill were incorrectly reported, and that the spill was actually estimated by the Coast Guard to be 36,500 gallons.

This conclusion still has uncertainties. For example, in the USCG report “Polluting Incident Compendium Part III ” Historic spills: 1969 – 1993″ notes that in 1974, Massachusetts had 110 recorded spills, the largest of which was 21,000 gallons. A retrospective article after the B120 oil spill in the Cape Cod Times suggest the 1974 Bouchard 65 spill was 25,000 gallons (although immediately after the Bouchard 120 spill the newspaper reported 165,000 gallons for the spill, but the value appears to reflect a error contained on the Buzzards Bay NEP website in a table posted soon after the Bouchard 120 spill).

Given all these contradictory sources of information, it may be best to characterize the USCG estimated spill volume to be likely within the range of 21,000 to 36,500 gallons.

In contrast to the 1974 accident, the 1977 Bouchard 65 spill was well reported because it occurred 1 month after the Argo Merchant disaster off Nantucket, and because upper Buzzards Bay was locked with sea ice. The Bouchard 65 again grounded near Cleveland Ledge, and 4 of 10 tanks ruptured. The spill is memorable because some of the oil trapped on the ice was ignited on fire and newspapers carried dramatic photos of plumes of black smoke rising over Buzzards Bay toward Cape Cod. Equally amazing, clean crews walked onto Buzzards Bay off of Wings Neck with 5000 foot long hoses to vacuum off pools of oil on the ice. Apparently, the first estimate of the spill was 500,000 gallons, but this was revised by the third day to 100,000 gallons as reported in Standard Times. Eleven days after the spill, the final volume of oil was provided in newspaper accounts as “about 80,000 gallons,” which coincides with the 1,932 barrels (81,140 gallons) reported in subsequent government reports about the attempted oil burning. Only around 2,000 gallons were presumed to be burned.

Technical information for students of oil spills

Barrels and Gallons and Tons

We found many discrepancies among the technical reports we had on file about the volume of oil spilled in the Florida accident. Part of the problem was that in scientific reports, the exact volume of the spill was of incidental significance, or rounding errors were often introduced in the calculations. Adding to the problem was the fact many units of measure are used to report oil spills, a problem common in technical literature on the subject.

Most often errors arise from conversion errors, rounding errors, or incorrect assumptions about earlier reported units of measure or oil densities. The petroleum industry tends to measure volumes of product in barrels, a US measure dating back to the mid 1800s, and equivalent to 42 gallons. This is a different volume than say, a barrel of wine or olive oil. Today, the government tends to report spills in gallons, but in the 1960s and 1970s, reporting was usually in barrels. On the other hand, shippers tend to report tonnage, something easy to measure by the displacement of water on a vessel (n.b. hash marks on the side of the vessel). Of course, in 1969, that would have been US tons or “short tons,” equal to 2000 pounds. However, scientific publications report in metric tons, which is equal to 2205 pounds, or in liters.

To further, complicate matters, a ton of No. 2 oil does not have the same volume of No. 6 oil or water. On the east coast of the US, No. 2 fuel oil often has a specific gravity around 0.86, whereas No. 6 oil has a specific gravity of nearly 1.0, close to the value of fresh water. So one short ton of No. 2 fuel has 280 gallons but one short ton of No. 6 has 240 gallons. However, for metric tons, the values are 309 and 265 gallons respectively. For comparison, there are 1000 liters (264 gallons) of fresh water in a metric ton (at 10 degrees Celsius).

These values are actually valid only for the identified specific gravities. In reality, crude oil can range from 250 gallons to 300 gallons per metric ton. Today, the average often given for crude oil is 7.33 barrels or 308 gallons per metric ton (6.65 barrels or 279 gallons per short ton), but in the past, different averages and volumes were used based on “typical” grades of crude oil on the market. Even No. 2 fuel oil can range from 302 to 316 gallons per metric ton. For every spill, tonnage to gallon conversions must be based on the precise characteristics of that oil.

Of course, the preceding discussion ignores temperature, and oil expands when warmed. Some of the petroleum tables report volumes at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, other report volumes at 86 degrees. Finally, the petroleum industry does not even report oil density using the traditional measure of specific gravity used by scientists. They use a measure a measure called “degrees API” which must be converted.

Simple? Turn back the clocks, take away calculators, add rounding errors, and introduce press reports with incorrect first estimates of the spill, and you have a reporting disaster of oil spill proportions.

Post Mortem of an oil spill: Misreporting of the 1969 Florida spill

The Sanders et al. (1980) and Sanders et al. (1981) reports on the Florida spill stated the values “650,000 to 700,00 liters” (172,000 to 185,000 gallons) as the volume of oil spilled. These were the principal references used when the Buzzards Bay CCMP was written. The fact that Sanders et al. gave a range of values for the Florida spill was unusual. There is a strong tendency in government reports to settle on a single value as a best estimate for spills, and not give ranges. A single number makes it far easier to calculate and publish statistics about spills. Was this based on a government report, or was it based on other estimates? We began to review reports we had on file of the Florida spill.

As it turns out, the Sanders estimates were originally given by Blumer et al. in 1970. There was actually an earlier report by Hampson and Sanders (1969), just one month after the spill, which cited a release of “250,000 to 280,000 liters (60,000 to 70,000 gallons)”. Besides the evident rounding errors in converting liters to gallons, this estimate may have been based on incorrect preliminary information or a calculation error by the authors.

Interestingly, an article in the newspaper the New Bedford Standard Times, just two days after the spill, had already quoted a Coast Guard official that the spill was “probably 168,000 gallons.” This equals precisely 4,000 barrels, which was the usual unit of measure for reporting oil spills in government documents at the time. Sanders also subsequently reported the 4,000-barrel total in a 1974 report. Blumer and Sass in 1972 reported “600 metric tons” of oil was spilled, which at a typical 309 gallons per metric ton for East Coast No. 2, appears to coincide with the Coast Guards revised estimate and explains the 185,400 gallons in the upper range reported by Sanders. However, Blumer et al. (1971) reported 650-700 “tons” were spilled. If these values are in metric tons, for typical No. 2 oil, this equals his equals 215,000 to 231,000 gallons, if these are short (American) tons, which appears to be the case, this equals 182,000 to 196,000 gallons (280 gallons per short ton for No. 2). However, what appeared to happen in this latter report was that the authors incorrectly used the water conversion of 264 gallons per short ton, which for the range gives the range of 172,000 to 185,000 gallons, which precisely matches the values repeatedly later cited (650,000 to 700,000 liters).

This same error can be deduced from Wertnbaker (1973, as reprinted in Wertenbaker, 1974), who in a detailed lay article in the New Yorker Magazine title “Anatomy of an Oil Spill” only reports the total oil cargo on the barge as 2,500 tons. Blumer et at. 1970 report the cargo as “14,000 barrels (588,000 gallons or 2,220,000 liters).” The 14,000-barrel cargo volume coincides with newspaper accounts at the time. The barrel to liter conversion is correct, but the cargo would have to be denser than water for 14,000 barrels to be equal to the reported 2,500 tons, so presumably the 2,500-ton cargo volume is another published error.

The lessons from these reports are clear. Be very careful in applying the correct conversion factors when calculating oil volumes or weights.

Retrospective on the Florida spill

On September 16, 1969, the oil tank barge Florida came aground off West Falmouth Harbor, on a point of land. The vessel, pulled by the tugboat Evening Star was headed to the petroleum facility serving the power plant on the Cape Cod Canal (now called the Mirant Canal Station electricity generating facility). The accident is believed to have occurred after midnight, and there is some evidence that the spill might have occurred before midnight on September 15.

In the 1991 Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation Plan prepared by the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program reported that 185,000 gallons were spilled in the accident. This was close, but the actual total adopted in a 1975 Congressional report on oil spills, was that 4,500 barrels or 189,000 gallons were spilled in the Florida accident. We recommend that this volume be used in subsequent publications and reports about the Florida oil spill.

Excerpt of 1975 Office of Technology Assessment Report

“WEST FALMOUTH SPILL
On September 16, 1969, the oil barge Florida, on the way to a power plant on the Cape Cod Canal, came ashore off Bassets Point in Buzzards Bay, near the entrance to West Falmouth Harbor, Massachusetts. Nearly 4,500 barrels of No. 2 fuel oil were released into these coastal waters.

Immediately after the spill, massive destruction of marine life occurred offshore. Extensive trawling and dredging showed that a wide range of fish, shellfish, worms, crabs and other invertebrates were affected. Trawls made in 10 feet of water soon after the spill showed that 95 percent of the animals collected were dead. The bottom muds contained many dead snails, clams, and crustaceans. Similar mortality occurred in the tidal rivers and marshes into which the oil had moved under the combined influence of tide and wind.

Eight months after the spill, the pollution covered an area of approximately 5,000 acres offshore and 500 acres of marshes and tidal rivers-about eleven times the area initially affected. Secondary pollution from heavily affected areas continued after the accident. In heavily polluted marshes, oil penetrated to a depth of at least one to two feet, and in these areas vital bacterial degradation was almost negligible eight months after the spill. Wherever the oil spread, there was concomitant animal mortality, and after nine months, the affected areas had not repopulated. A study conducted four years after the spill indicates that some effects still persist.”

References Cited

Blumer, M, G. Souza, and J. Sass. 1970. Hydrocarbon Pollution of edible shellfish by an oil spill. Mar, Biol. 5:195-202.

Blumer, M. and J. Sass. 1972. Oil Pollution: persistence and Degradation of Spilled Fuel Oil. Science. 176:1120-1122.

Blumer, M, H. L. Sanders, J. F Grassle, and G. R. Hampson. 1971.

Farrington, J.W., A.C. Davis, N.M. Frew, and K.S. Rabin. 1982. No. 2 fuel oil compounds in Mytilus edulis. Mar. Biol. 66:15-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00397250

Hampson, G, “Destruction and recovery of the Winsor Cove, Cataumet, MA, salt marsh from a No. 2 fuel oil spill: A 25 year history,” Environment Cape Cod 3(2000): 32-39.

Hampson, G.R. and E. T. Moul. 1978. No. 2 Fuel Oil Spill in Bourne, Massachusetts: Immediate Assessment of the Effects on Marine Invertebrates and a 3-Year Study of Growth and Recovery of a Salt Marsh. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 35:731-744, 10.1139/f78-123

Hyland, J.L. 1978. A review of oil spill pollution incidents in and around New England. EPA-600/3-77-064. 41 pp.

Office of Technology Assessment (US Congress). 1975. Oil Transportation by Tankers: An Analysis of Marine Pollution and Safety Measures July 1975 NTIS order #PB-244457
pdf file excerpt at Princeton University Website

Peacock EE, GR Hampson, and RD Nelson RK, et al., “The 1974 spill of the Bouchard 65 oil barge: Petroleum hydrocarbons persist in Winsor Cove salt marsh sediments,�? Marine Pollution Bulletin 54(2007):214-225.

Sanders, H. L, J.F. Grassle, G. R. Hampson, L.S. Morse, S. Garner-Price and C. C. Jones. 1980. Anatomy of an oil spill: long term effects from the barge Florida off West Falmouth. J. Mar. Res. 38:265-380.

Sanders, H. L, J.F. Grassle, G. R. Hampson, L.S. Morse, S. Garner-Price and C. C. Jones. 1981. Long Term Effects of the Barge Florida oil Spill. EPA-600/2-81-012. January 1981. 217 pp.

Yoshioka, G., E. Wong, B. Grossman, W. Drake, B. Urban, and T. Hudon. 1999. Past In-Situ Burning Possibilities. U.S. Department of Transportation, United States Coast Guard, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection (G-M), Washington, DC 20593-0001. Report No. CG-D-17-99.

Other Useful Conversions

These are averages compiled and calculated using data from various sources including published API gravities on Material Safety Data Sheets, and other data. Values are for 15 degrees C (=60 degrees F). Note that a short ton (= “US Ton”) is 2,000 pounds, which differs from the metric ton (2,205 pounds =1,000 kilograms), and the English Long Ton (2,240 pounds). Volume per ton increases with increasing temperature.

Gallons per Short Ton of Fuel Oil No. 1: 280-290
Gallons per Short Ton of Fuel Oil No. 2: 267-280
Gallons per Short Ton of Fuel Oil No. 4: 263-265
Gallons per Short Ton of Fuel Oil No. 5: 253-260
Gallons per Short Ton of Fuel Oil No. 6: 246-250

Gallons per metric ton “crude oil, US“: 308

There are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil.

Further reading on conversions

Excerpted pages from NAS’ Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects (2003)

Petroleum specific gravity table from a government website.

Hess MSDs.

Wikipedia Unit Conversion page.