I lost my father and Uncle on that night. My father was never found but my Uncle was. I think about my dad every day and wonder if he suffered. My dad would tell my mom how bad the conditions were on the Ocean Ranger. His schedule was 28 days on and 28 days off. He was an electrician and worked in the ballast control room. He was a caring, funny and awesome Dad. I've been to St. John's Newfoundland for the memorial service for the 84 men 3 times. It's held every year on February 15th. I wish we could have gotten closure by bringing my dad home. May they all rip.
So sorry for your personal loss, it must have been hard for you to not have your dad around. We appreciate you taking the time to share a very personal connection to this tragic story. Best wishes to you and your family.
@@BadDayHQ thank you so much. I have 5 brothers and sisters that had to grow up without their dad also along with 6 cousins that lost their father. My mom, rest her soul, lost her husband and her only brother. They were very close and my dad and uncle were best friends. It was a terrible loss on both sides. I appreciate people recognizing that horrible tragedy. There really should be a memorial that the American families could attend who lost loved ones. It's really expensive to travel to St. Johns, Newfoundland.
@@BadDayHQ Oh my goodness, I wouldn't know where to start. I know that Odeco (Ocean Drilling and Exploration) was in New Orleans. I'm not sure if they're still there. That's who we, our mom, sued for wrongful death. That's also where my dad went to school to train for the job. My dad started working on the Ocean Ranger in 1976 when it was off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. He was gone for 3 months when they moved it to the north atlantic. They thought it would fit through the panama canal but it wouldn't so they had to go down around South America (the horn I think they call it) and up to the north atlantic. If you could give me a shove in the right direction, I would love to start the process of a memorial on their behalf. Thank you so much 🙂
I worked for Toolpusher Kent Thompson on the Ocean Patriot...1year or so before. I was in shock when I heard of the tragedy. When I found out he was in charge I was not surprised at all. He was a hard nosed driller...never should have been in charge of any vessel.
I remember hearing about that on the news - I was a teenager. When I heard, some time later, that the company had disregarded O'Brien's recommendations and refused to improve security, it made me so achingly mad... Still, to this day. Corporate greed is one murderous monster.
I had just got off the ranger, 13 days in route to the Alaskan star off Georgia banks, 84 men I broke bread with still haunt me, was on the rig for 2 weeks, and knew the the port side Balest tank was bad the whole time in the north sea was nothing but an erre and destitute feeling, r.i.p. to the brothers lost!°
@@jennsmith5089 I've never heard anything about that. Of course, they never told us about the inferno that caused some of the deaths either. Not all of the men drown in the icy waters.
My Dads best friend was one of the unfortunate souls who went to the Lord that dreadful night, he's the guy that was pictured at the beginning, RIP, Bob Arsenault, we all will never forget you and the family you left behind, they are all great folks. 😆✊👍👷
BAD DAY...you should play the recording of the radio Chatter THAT Night!! All of us huddled around the radio room.....WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! THE SCREAMS!!
With the 40th anniversary here and now. Wanted to repay respects to those who lost their lives that day. ~ RIP ~ May the memories of your lives never fade and the lessons from that horrible day are never forgotten.
We've learnt this: if it can float, it can sink. Simple theory really. Poor/no management, untrained workers, unsatisfactory safety gear and lack of weather reporting. Those are the combined factors that let this happen.
The sea was too rough for the lifeboats? Let's not forget that they had never successfully launched a lifeboat during the drills. What chance did they have in heavy seas?
A lot of hubris and arrogance from a veteran oil rig crew. The Ocean Ranger and the Crew weathered through severe storms in The Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and North Sea. Crew leaders and management fully believed Ocean Ranger could get through another Nor'Easter as it had done several times before.
This was yet another example of those at the top of the company having utter contempt for the safety and well-being of the workers on their dangerously designed rig platform and the same attitude from those bodies trusted with oversight and governance of it. Health and Safety legislation is in effect written in the blood on the broken bodies of the workers whose lives are destroyef by companies whose overriding interest is profit rather than investing money in employee safety measures, equipment, procedures and training. That the scenario which doomed this rig and everyone aboard had not been considered utterly beggars belief.
You'd think by now that people would've learned not to think of things as unsinkable. As soon as that description comes up, you know it won't end well.
Actually a lot of people don't know about the Ocean Ranger. The offshore disasters people remember are Piper Alpha and Deep Horizon, maybe because there are pictures of burning oil platforms. I think Ocean Ranger is somewhat forgotten
I remember all of them, although OR is a bit vague as I was only 6 in February 1982... I clearly remember John Lennon and the Toxteth and Brixton riots. I think if this had happened a year later (when I heard about Titanic) it would have been more out there for me... Bloody horrific how a porthole can take down a whole rig...
Sorry about the last upload friends! You're all totally right the audio was completely wrong, the old masters of that episode are pretty damaged. I'll get it fixed and in the meantime here's next weeks!
When it comes to things like oil rigs, planes, ships, etc., you should never assume it’s impossible to sink/crash/etc. Complacency wrt to safety is an easy for things to go from bad to worse
I don’t kno why but sometimes I just feel like watching this again. I never got to meet my Grandpa Robert aka Bob Arsenault. I was born 2 years later. My gramma didn’t really care about me or my mother,so makes me extra sad I never got to meet and have a relationship with him. I’m so curious if anyone knew him,and could tell me anything about him. I don’t really kno all that much. Also very curious if anyone knows if any pieces of the wreck were brought out of the water? I hope to travel to NFLD to visit the monument myself some day. Be amazing amazing experience. RIP to all the crew and to my Grandpa. I kno I were an amazing man even tho I didn’t get to meet u. And all My love to all the families who lost their loved ones. To the man who my grandfather covered for,if ur still out there. Life happens. And everything happens for a reason. Much love. Xox Alicia.Katherine.Arsenault
I didn't meet your grandpa but I'm sure he watches over you and loves you and is proud of you, very sorry about your grandmother being a difficult woman, I feel you, my own mother, a mess, my sister, dead and crazy, so much dysfunction, take care of yourself and those you love that you can trust..
Grand Banks are no joke in any month really. The Andrea Gail went down probably close to where the Ocean Ranger went down, don't think the wreckage was ever found. Bad area of water.
Gotta remember these early offshore platforms, and the technology behind the building of them were kind of in their infancy, even for the engineering principles used for building them,but by the same token, they knew how brutal the North Atlantic is, and that's never been a question!
That wasn't an early design and certainly not a platform - it was semi-submersible. Sure it had some innovative features, but semis had been around for years. The SEDCO series was one of the most solid, stable, heavy-duty, dependable, and proven rig designs that I worked on.
@@johngreydanus2033 That's why the porthole always got to me. Even back then there must have been a better way than leaving such an obvious vulnerability. Of course if they'd raised the rig sooner it might have helped.
, on Saturday, a guy who worked on the Ocean Ranger gives a party for the birth to his last child. My group was invited as well as his team on the platform. The ocean ranger was listed by 6 degrees. All of us in the industry were worried, but we had to work hard. Monday morning, the radio revealed that the platform sank. I was looking for my two technicians who had to do work there. Fortunately the storm had blocked them in New Brunswick. One of my colleagues comes and says to me: the guys at the Saturday party are all dead.
I got News for you...I was on the Sedco 706 right around the corner from the Ranger...A Wayy older Rig...As Well as a even OLDER Junk pile..a Norwegian Anchor jobby....Both survived the storm OK!! Odeco had More Than their Share of Inexperienced People Running The Rig..The Reason Why I left....NOT to Mention a personnel Problem....I always had to stay..Because many times i had NO RELIEF!!
Corporate culture HATES whistle blowers. But often whistle blowers are saying "I TOLD YOU" post disaster. Also, the fact it's nickname was Ocean Danger would of told ME to get a transfer PRONTO! Also, nothing is unsinkable. It's just bad karma to label something as such....because Murphy's Law is just that.....LAW!
Not all companies are like that. We had some bad managers at our company. When I escalated the issue to our executives, they took action and rectified the situation. But yea, if that's not happening then about all you can do is quit and find another job, which can be tough.
Using the storm prediction as an excuse, is not valid. All other drilling rigs were evacuated prior to the storm, so they had all the required information. On offshore platforms, ballast hands are a very important part of the operation and well trained. The Ocean Ranger management didn’t believe this was all that important, that’s why the ballast hand on board had only rig hand experience. With the electronics out of commission, due to the water intrusion, they could only operate the controls with rods, stored in the corner, that when inserted, could operate the valves pneumatic controllers. When the divers went down, these rods were all still in the storage location, identifying that they were never used. There were more people, than just Newfoundland, that this affected!
Two supposedly unsinkable structures The Titanic and The Ocean Ranger sunk to the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland...It still amazes me how some people continue to believe that you can fight mother nature...no matter how prepared we think we are..we can never really predict the the outcome..I remember The Ocean Ranger tragedy like it was yesterday...A day of great mourning for our province...An epic tragedy
More like, what idiot didn't want to spend some extra money for the electronic sensors so there wouldn't be a stupid porthole right next to the electronics in the first place?
Plain and simple it wasn't below the waterline. But the deadlight should have been kept closed and there should have been a backup system of some description
Remember, this is a semisubmersible, and doesn't have a fixed waterline. The height of the station above the water is going to change with how submerged the rig is. At this time, they were running deeper than usual to put the pontoons below the wave action, in fact close to the maximum draught. There was a very nasty sea state that night, and still nothing was mentioned about waves reaching the porthole on the regular. Very likely there was a rogue wave.
I was a.good friend of.the acting dive supervisor on the ocean ranger who finished his tour just weeks before it sank and had visited the control room where the ballist control were , and noticed a port open right near it and advised the operator to close it and the guy brushed it off and the water flooded the controls and the result was it capsized ! The glass DID NOT BREAK ! It was left open !
The view of St. John's (the oldest city in N. America) at the end, is from Signal Hill, atop of which Marconi sent the first trans Atlantic wireless signal! My biological father was to be part of the next crew! I have two sample bottles he brought back from the Ranger, one of sediment and one of oil!
JaseCJay: Not sure if it's actually the oldest but Newfoundland was Britain's first colony, founded in the early 16th century, about 1504 I think. I imagine that some of the Mexican cities are older than St John's but not by much. Cheers mate, Dave, a Brit in Vancouver, one of the newest cities in Canada.
@@GiordanDiodato Yes mate, I'm aware of that but many people aren't. Canada, as such is certainly the oldest colony albeit originally Viking, than anywhere in North or South America. Cheers!
THATS RIGHT , YOUR HEADING DOWN TO THE WATER AND BUDDY, SAY'S ( SHE'S UNSINKABLE ) YOU TURN AROUND AND HEAD BACK HOME!!!! MAN'S BIGGEST FLAW, THINKING WE CAN CONQUER ANYTHING?
@@HEDGE1011 exactly! My mother was given a choice between mitsubishi and Odeco to sue for wrongful death. She sued Odeco. The families in Newfoundland whom chose attorneys there were done a huge injustice. The american attorneys that represented some Newfoundlanders and the american families mopped the floor with the Odeco corporation for wrongful death.
I was on a rig in which the ballast control room had been moved from the leg to one deck below the port sponson only to be flooded not by seawater but by potable (fresh drinking) water from a badly fractured pipe in the space above which just goes to show that shit really does happen. Fortunately the water drained out very quickly but the electric gear was still shagged. We just had to operate the valves in local control instead of remote, all of the pumps were down in the pontoons so we were ok. I wonder why the Ocean Ranger crew didn't think to ensure the correct valves had been operated by visually checking them.
Anton I don't work in the offshore drilling industry but I am an engineer of sorts, mostly electrical and electronic but will pinch hit into other areas so I can read and understand engineering documents quite well. Just out of interest many years ago I read the government report on the Ocean Ranger and was shocked at how many design errors and oversights were made in the ballast control system of that vessel and how untrained the ballast control operators were in in its use. Before responding to your comment I located and reviewed the section of the report dealing with the ballast control system. See: publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1982-1-1-2-eng.pdf Three things scream out to me as problems: 1/ The location of the ballast control room making it subject to sea water incursion and the lack of waterproofing of the ballast control panel. (Fresh water is bad for electrical stuff as you found out, but salt water is MUCH worse!) 2/ The half assed emergency manual control system for ballast control that was invented "ad hoc" during construction of the rig by the owner's resident electrician. It was quite usable, but NOT documented. How to use it was (sometimes) passed on by word of mouth during "on the job" training of ballast operators and somewhere along the line the "sense" of operation was reversed. In other words, when using the manual control system (after seawater shorted out the control panel) the operator was opening valves when he wanted to close them and vice versa. See page 20 and 21 of the report mentioned above. 3/ The two pump rooms for the ballast system were located at the extreme stern ends of the pontoons. The pontoons were about 407 feet long. I just calculated using grade school trigonometry that it would only take a list of about 4.5 degrees down at the bow before the tank at the bow end would be 33 feet below the pumps at the stern end. This means that once that angle was reached the pumps could not be used to empty the bow ballast tanks effectively because they would start cavitating due to no net positive suction head. In my opinion the bottom line is that the ballast system on the Ocean Ranger was poorly designed, poorly constructed, and poorly documented - and being run by poorly trained people. It was an accident waiting to happen... If the manual control system had been properly documented and the operators properly trained the accident would likely not have happened. Failing that, once the operators realized that their manual actions were having the opposite of the intended effect, if the pumps had been located amidships or distributed among the tanks so that there was net positive suction head regardless of the rig's attitude (within reason) then they probably could have dug their way out of the hole they had gotten themselves into. Instead, they went ass over teakettle... I hope this sheds some light... Vince
Vincent Sullivan There has also been a history of nepotism in the offshore industry, not so much now but it did exist. Quite often the guy who was promoted was not necessarily the best or most experienced hand but merely the 'toolpushers favourite' and this led to situations in which that person relies heavily on those ranked below him for advice. Unlike the Merchant marine or merchant navy in which members are all highly trained for their various roles and must demonstrate a high level of efficiency the offshore industry was run along the lines of 'if the cap fits wear it'. Obviously the rig electrician must be a certified electrician but sometimes his previous work experience had little to do with an offshore environment and the same goes for mechanics, a typical greenhand mech may have worked and gained his accreditation in an auto shop which is obviously a far cry from a drill floor or pump room. I have experienced and benefitted from this myself having went offshore from the merchant navy as a motorman and soon being given the opportunity to rise to rig mechanic without any formal training for that role, although I must say that I was quite capable of carrying those duties out.
@@johngreydanus2033 The 'Port Reval' an ex driller converted to accommodation and yes of course I knew where the ballast valves were. Earlier rigs like the above mentioned had ladders down the legs to the p/p rms and pontoons which were a pain in the arse but that's just tough shit, we were always up and down the bloody things and so going down to check the correct operation of a ballast valve is not a life changing event. Pain in the arse? Yep! An extraordinary event? Nope.
Oil companies do not care. The owners only care about making their money. I do hope the families were compensated though. The one guy did try to get better safety regulations and was denied. RIP all who died that day.
It's unsinkable. So was the Titanic. And the Bismarck. And the Yamato. And the Edmund Fitzgerald. If it's called unsinkable it's gonna sink. To say that is hubris embodied.
I never found evidence that the Edmund Fitzgerald was ever called "unsinkable". And neither Harland and Wolff Shipyards (builders) nor White Star (owners and operators) ever claimed the Titanic was unsinkable. A shipbuilding trade magazine said she was "practically unsinkable" The press eliminated the word "practically" and claimed she was unsinkable.
During a North Sea storm the Borgsten Dolphin was under tow, we lost 3 of the4 tow chains! I was on the bridge at the time and the coast guard was in contact with the radio op, who was also the chief medic, he was studying for his medics exam, and did not contact the OIM or any of the senior managers on board, he lost his job but nobody else? I personally heard the coast guard ask if we were declaring an emergency, and this medic just said no! No checks, no further up the chain nothing
In August 1983, the wreck of Ocean Ranger was refloated and sunk in deeper waters by the Dutch firm Wijsmuller Salvage. Three salvage divers were killed during the operation.
@@diyr791 The Ocean Ranger was just thirty feet under the water where it had sunk upside down. It was believed to be a threat to shipping lanes which is why it was re-floated and sunk in deeper waters.
@@1984alicat There were some items recovered from the ocean like a smashed lifeboat but nothing was ever recovered from the Ranger itself as far as I know.
This, as they say; was the proverbial "accident waiting to happen". What the hell were they thinking? So water that blew in through a cheap glass window sank this rig. How about that! The young valentines day guy was right to feel guilty about it. The older desk job guy was foolish not to see the danger. They all were. Wake up dangerous job pay seekers! The Company is not worth dying for!
Sorry to disagree. However, the younger dude had absolutely nothing to do with the sinking. You are correct to a point about companies not giving a damn about its own employees overall. Not all companies are that way however. Furthermore, yes dangerous jobs exist. It is very unfortunate. At this point in time somebody has to do them. ✌
In A storm..Procedure is Men Posted in Starboard an Port Pontoon Ballast/ pump Room's with back up Com..(Phones down there) PHYSICALLY Verifying The opening and Closing Of Valves..For trim and transference of ballast. In the ranger..looking at the ballast board..Watching lights Flicker..and Just Guessing Valves were opened/ Closed, IS WHAT happened
Given how cold that water was, I guarantee you that crew members became unconscious in a few seconds after hitting it. Also, none of them jumped in on their own decisions. The wind and waves knocked them into the Ocean.
This is hard to believe. Waters in those will kill hypothermically in high summer. Like all management just seemed to forget that storms, like shit, happen.
As a steward on a drilling rig like this, I was often in the bcr, and also in the radio room at several times during night shift? The radio op (also the cheif medic) was the only person on the bridge all night? In the bcr at the same time was the cheif driller? Can anyone see the problems?
Senseless that so many lives should be shattered and lost. Yet the worker who called around everywhere he could to highlight safety issues was ignored or told not our problem.
. Life rules (2 ea): *) Never allow the Institution to be embarrassed *) Never allow your paycheck to be threatened Broken fiberglass boats during drills do not threaten the Institution nor cause embarrassment. Ppl with certain paychecks threaten other paychecks is the definition of "threat." O'Brien's paycheck does not fall on that list. Breaking life boats during an emergency threaten & embarrass therefore the Institution will kill to protect itself. This is why O'brian's complaint fell on deaf [money.]
A structure that never produced a drop of oil...my suspicious mind can't help but think about insurance. How much was the company paid after the disaster? 🤔
I lost my father and Uncle on that night. My father was never found but my Uncle was. I think about my dad every day and wonder if he suffered. My dad would tell my mom how bad the conditions were on the Ocean Ranger. His schedule was 28 days on and 28 days off. He was an electrician and worked in the ballast control room. He was a caring, funny and awesome Dad. I've been to St. John's Newfoundland for the memorial service for the 84 men 3 times. It's held every year on February 15th. I wish we could have gotten closure by bringing my dad home. May they all rip.
So sorry for your personal loss, it must have been hard for you to not have your dad around. We appreciate you taking the time to share a very personal connection to this tragic story. Best wishes to you and your family.
@@BadDayHQ thank you so much. I have 5 brothers and sisters that had to grow up without their dad also along with 6 cousins that lost their father. My mom, rest her soul, lost her husband and her only brother. They were very close and my dad and uncle were best friends. It was a terrible loss on both sides. I appreciate people recognizing that horrible tragedy. There really should be a memorial that the American families could attend who lost loved ones. It's really expensive to travel to St. Johns, Newfoundland.
@@Lainy_Donlon Maybe you should start a campaign for a memorial, I'm sure people would be willing to help out.
@@BadDayHQ Oh my goodness, I wouldn't know where to start. I know that Odeco (Ocean Drilling and Exploration) was in New Orleans. I'm not sure if they're still there. That's who we, our mom, sued for wrongful death. That's also where my dad went to school to train for the job. My dad started working on the Ocean Ranger in 1976 when it was off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. He was gone for 3 months when they moved it to the north atlantic. They thought it would fit through the panama canal but it wouldn't so they had to go down around South America (the horn I think they call it) and up to the north atlantic. If you could give me a shove in the right direction, I would love to start the process of a memorial on their behalf. Thank you so much 🙂
Sorry for your loss
My great uncle passed away in this accident. Thank you for telling the world his story. They won’t be forgotten.
Thanks for watching
nobody is forgotten....i hope. very brave crew!!!
1
38 years ago today and still remembered by all Newfoundlanders like it was yesterday. RIP
We still remember it 39 years later
Bruce Edwards is an underrated narrator.
He’s awesome
Echo like cool
I worked for Toolpusher Kent Thompson on the Ocean Patriot...1year or so before. I was in shock when I heard of the tragedy. When I found out he was in charge I was not surprised at all. He was a hard nosed driller...never should have been in charge of any vessel.
Hey! I’m writing a disaster case study paper on the Ocean Ranger, I was wondering if I could possibly use your words in a quote?
@@jacobploszaj935 sure.....He was a tough guy 2 work for
Yes ,yes my driller ,rizpek my guys a killer
I remember hearing about that on the news - I was a teenager. When I heard, some time later, that the company had disregarded O'Brien's recommendations and refused to improve security, it made me so achingly mad... Still, to this day. Corporate greed is one murderous monster.
This is truly a horrific tragedy. My gosh, those poor men and their families 💔💔💔
O’Brien is an incredibly observant and fortunate man.
I had just got off the ranger, 13 days in route to the Alaskan star off Georgia banks, 84 men I broke bread with still haunt me, was on the rig for 2 weeks, and knew the the port side Balest tank was bad the whole time in the north sea was nothing but an erre and destitute feeling, r.i.p. to the brothers lost!°
Did u kno my grandpa? Robert Arsenault?
@@1984alicat So sorry for your families loss. This is a tragedy that could have, and should have, been prevented from happening.
Oh! You were on with my Dad Tom Donlon? He worked 28 on 28 off. He also worked in the ballast control room.
Do you know if it is true that there was top secret info kept there and that was removed before the men?
@@jennsmith5089 I've never heard anything about that. Of course, they never told us about the inferno that caused some of the deaths either. Not all of the men drown in the icy waters.
My Dads best friend was one of the unfortunate souls who went to the Lord that dreadful night, he's the guy that was pictured at the beginning, RIP, Bob Arsenault, we all will never forget you and the family you left behind, they are all great folks. 😆✊👍👷
Was Bob Arsenault from Lafourche Parrish ?
he was a tool pusher
@@cajunsheepdog5025 He was From Louisiana for sure
That’s my grandfather. :( I was born 2 years later
THATS JUST INCONCEIVABLE THAT NO ONE WAS FOUND AT FAULT! Not one CEO, administrator, nothing??
THAT IS THE BIGGEST DISASTER!
If your rich, you can get away with almost anything! :/
BAD DAY...you should play the recording of the radio Chatter THAT Night!! All of us huddled around the radio room.....WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! THE SCREAMS!!
Is there a recording of that radio chatter on TH-cam? I highly doubt it's even public.
@@josephruiz7233 I Doubt it,and the Probability is good, That a recording does Exist Somewhere
With the 40th anniversary here and now. Wanted to repay respects to those who lost their lives that day.
~ RIP ~ May the memories of your lives never fade and the lessons from that horrible day are never forgotten.
Thanks for your comment.
Never get on anything that's said to be unsinkable!!!
Kimberly Lee yep.
Ok. I'll just get on ships and oil platforms deemed "sinkable".
I find it ironic how it happened almost exactly 70 years after Titanic. It's only off by two months.
*slaps forehead*
Kimberly Lee wise words 👍
We've learnt this: if it can float, it can sink. Simple theory really. Poor/no management, untrained workers, unsatisfactory safety gear and lack of weather reporting. Those are the combined factors that let this happen.
Happens when $$ is put before safety and proper training.
If it can fail, at some point it will fail
The sea was too rough for the lifeboats? Let's not forget that they had never successfully launched a lifeboat during the drills. What chance did they have in heavy seas?
A lot of hubris and arrogance from a veteran oil rig crew. The Ocean Ranger and the Crew weathered through severe storms in The Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and North Sea.
Crew leaders and management fully believed Ocean Ranger could get through another Nor'Easter as it had done several times before.
This was yet another example of those at the top of the company having utter contempt for the safety and well-being of the workers on their dangerously designed rig platform and the same attitude from those bodies trusted with oversight and governance of it.
Health and Safety legislation is in effect written in the blood on the broken bodies of the workers whose lives are destroyef by companies whose overriding interest is profit rather than investing money in employee safety measures, equipment, procedures and training.
That the scenario which doomed this rig and everyone aboard had not been considered utterly beggars belief.
You'd think by now that people would've learned not to think of things as unsinkable. As soon as that description comes up, you know it won't end well.
Actually a lot of people don't know about the Ocean Ranger. The offshore disasters people remember are Piper Alpha and Deep Horizon, maybe because there are pictures of burning oil platforms. I think Ocean Ranger is somewhat forgotten
There's something ghostly about the Ocean Ranger.
The fact that so many men .. and not a single survivor. Not one. Beyond heartbreaking. God bless the families and friends left behind.
Newfoundland has never forgotten!
Piper alpha was a massive tradegy here In the UK. I was about 5yo and even then understood how horrific it must have been
I remember all of them, although OR is a bit vague as I was only 6 in February 1982... I clearly remember John Lennon and the Toxteth and Brixton riots. I think if this had happened a year later (when I heard about Titanic) it would have been more out there for me... Bloody horrific how a porthole can take down a whole rig...
People: *insert ship name* is unsinkable!
Mother Nature: Hold my beer.
Ha! I😄 I don't think nature even asked that!!!
"Don't bother holding my beer, I got this...😉"
There is a saying probably from the first time humans floated on a log. 'God and Weather Permitting'.
God bless 💔💕💓
Sorry about the last upload friends! You're all totally right the audio was completely wrong, the old masters of that episode are pretty damaged. I'll get it fixed and in the meantime here's next weeks!
Hope you can get that one fixed. Its one of my favorites. We also appreciate you uploading the next episode in its place.
That rig was a death trap!
They all are......
@@norml.hugh-mann Yep. I had a friend who worked on oil platforms and he told me all of them were disasters waiting to happen.
Omg that wave that wet the control board... a monster!!! XD
Thanks for watching Tim.
Excellent documentary .like all .human error
Many many thanks
When it comes to things like oil rigs, planes, ships, etc., you should never assume it’s impossible to sink/crash/etc. Complacency wrt to safety is an easy for things to go from bad to worse
One of my first audit of families and rackets
I don’t kno why but sometimes I just feel like watching this again. I never got to meet my Grandpa Robert aka Bob Arsenault. I was born 2 years later. My gramma didn’t really care about me or my mother,so makes me extra sad I never got to meet and have a relationship with him. I’m so curious if anyone knew him,and could tell me anything about him. I don’t really kno all that much. Also very curious if anyone knows if any pieces of the wreck were brought out of the water? I hope to travel to NFLD to visit the monument myself some day. Be amazing amazing experience. RIP to all the crew and to my Grandpa. I kno I were an amazing man even tho I didn’t get to meet u. And all
My love to all the families who lost their loved ones. To the man who my grandfather covered for,if ur still out there. Life happens. And everything happens for a reason. Much love. Xox
Alicia.Katherine.Arsenault
❤
I didn't meet your grandpa but I'm sure he watches over you and loves you and is proud of you, very sorry about your grandmother being a difficult woman, I feel you, my own mother, a mess, my sister, dead and crazy, so much dysfunction, take care of yourself and those you love that you can trust..
Rest in peace in fair skies and calm sea .
Thank you for this wonderful video. It is refreshing to watch these. Very well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Grand Banks are no joke in any month really. The Andrea Gail went down probably close to where the Ocean Ranger went down, don't think the wreckage was ever found. Bad area of water.
true That!! Worse Than The North SEA!!!
The Andrea Gale?
@@benlaskowski357 from the movie The Perfect Storm.
@@Lainy_Donlon Oh. Thanks.
North Atlantic is not something to mess with ...I'm from.cape Breton I know loads of fisherman
Oscar-worthy acting in this.
Gotta remember these early offshore platforms, and the technology behind the building of them were kind of in their infancy, even for the engineering principles used for building them,but by the same token, they knew how brutal the North Atlantic is, and that's never been a question!
That wasn't an early design and certainly not a platform - it was semi-submersible. Sure it had some innovative features, but semis had been around for years. The SEDCO series was one of the most solid, stable, heavy-duty, dependable, and proven rig designs that I worked on.
@@johngreydanus2033 That's why the porthole always got to me. Even back then there must have been a better way than leaving such an obvious vulnerability. Of course if they'd raised the rig sooner it might have helped.
I wish someone would make a decent documentary about this.
What wasn't decent about this one?
I'm so glad that I came across your channel! You have a new subscriber!
💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Valentines day!! Oh yeah
If you go on something that is said to be unsinkable and is fireproof. STAY AWAY!
, on Saturday, a guy who worked on the Ocean Ranger gives a party for the birth to his last child. My group was invited as well as his team on the platform. The ocean ranger was listed by 6 degrees. All of us in the industry were worried, but we had to work hard. Monday morning, the radio revealed that the platform sank. I was looking for my two technicians who had to do work there. Fortunately the storm had blocked them in New Brunswick. One of my colleagues comes and says to me: the guys at the Saturday party are all dead.
Damn that's brutal
You can always count on companies to cut corners at every opportunity.
Just came across your channel. Love it n subscribed
Love to see a Bad Day HQ episode about the Byford Dolphin decompression incident.
This same storm sank a Soviet freighter, killing almost everyone on board.
All but one guy.
@@josephruiz7233 the only survivor of the storm
I got News for you...I was on the Sedco 706 right around the corner from the Ranger...A Wayy older Rig...As Well as a even OLDER Junk pile..a Norwegian Anchor jobby....Both survived the storm OK!!
Odeco had More Than their Share of Inexperienced People Running The Rig..The Reason Why I left....NOT to Mention a personnel Problem....I always had to stay..Because many times i had NO RELIEF!!
On the ocean ranger EVERYBODY died, and just after Valentine’s Day too
The young guy going to tell his co-workers widow how sorry he was for what happened was really rough
thank you BDHQ i love your videos ;-)
Thanks Josiah, we'll keep 'em coming!
Corporate culture HATES whistle blowers.
But often whistle blowers are saying "I TOLD YOU" post disaster.
Also, the fact it's nickname was Ocean Danger would of told ME to get a transfer PRONTO!
Also, nothing is unsinkable. It's just bad karma to label something as such....because Murphy's Law is just that.....LAW!
Calm down. You don't need to capitalize every fifth word you type.
Not all companies are like that. We had some bad managers at our company. When I escalated the issue to our executives, they took action and rectified the situation. But yea, if that's not happening then about all you can do is quit and find another job, which can be tough.
The Ocean Ranger was definitely The Ocean Danger. It was a death trap.
Using the storm prediction as an excuse, is not valid. All other drilling rigs were evacuated prior to the storm, so they had all the required information. On offshore platforms, ballast hands are a very important part of the operation and well trained. The Ocean Ranger management didn’t believe this was all that important, that’s why the ballast hand on board had only rig hand experience. With the electronics out of commission, due to the water intrusion, they could only operate the controls with rods, stored in the corner, that when inserted, could operate the valves pneumatic controllers. When the divers went down, these rods were all still in the storage location, identifying that they were never used. There were more people, than just Newfoundland, that this affected!
Two supposedly unsinkable structures The Titanic and The Ocean Ranger sunk to the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland...It still amazes me how some people continue to believe that you can fight mother nature...no matter how prepared we think we are..we can never really predict the the outcome..I remember The Ocean Ranger tragedy like it was yesterday...A day of great mourning for our province...An epic tragedy
There's that word again...Unsinkable!
Really glad I found Bad Day HQ! got tired of watching the same old videos over and over. Loving the new content I'm not familiar with!
When Engineers said unsinkable, this means sinking soon.
Yup once you get into the "unsinkable" mindset no safety issue brought up is urgent
If anyone needed a Union, these guys did.
Looking out the window to gauge where the water line was 😳...no wonder shit went south
YEA! A NEW (English Speaking 😏) EPISODE!
I have heard of the Ranger, but don't know much about it. Thanks for the episode on it!
Loser yes it’s me again
Why.... in the bluest blazes of hell... would anyone design an oil rigs electronical stabilization system BELOW THE FREAKING WATERLINE?!?
More like, what idiot didn't want to spend some extra money for the electronic sensors so there wouldn't be a stupid porthole right next to the electronics in the first place?
I'm wondering who the FUCK decided to put the control ballast room so close to the waterline.
Plain and simple it wasn't below the waterline. But the deadlight should have been kept closed and there should have been a backup system of some description
It seems that there was a 'deadlight' but it wasn't closed........But again the question, why have a porthole in such a venerable area ???
Remember, this is a semisubmersible, and doesn't have a fixed waterline.
The height of the station above the water is going to change with how submerged the rig is. At this time, they were running deeper than usual to put the pontoons below the wave action, in fact close to the maximum draught.
There was a very nasty sea state that night, and still nothing was mentioned about waves reaching the porthole on the regular. Very likely there was a rogue wave.
They told them to shut up about the danger until they died
Someone was watching over that young lad who requested time off. So sad and so avoidable after the fact
I can't imagine the guilt he must have felt
What about the guy who filled in for him? Wasn’t even supposed to be on that hitch
GOD is in control
Was my grandfather who covered for him :(
@@1984alicat So sorry for your loss, Ms. Arsenault
I was a.good friend of.the acting dive supervisor on the ocean ranger who finished his tour just weeks before it sank and had visited the control room where the ballist control were , and noticed a port open right near it and advised the operator to close it and the guy brushed it off and the water flooded the controls and the result was it capsized ! The glass DID NOT BREAK ! It was left open !
Thanks for adding to our story
I've heard of some scary ways to die but that had to be an absolutely brutal night of fighting. Rest in ✌
Alexander Kjelland was a Norwegian floating rigg and it went belly up and many workers drowned, it's not so many years ago.
and more died there than the Ranger en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_L._Kielland_(platform)
The view of St. John's (the oldest city in N. America) at the end, is from Signal Hill, atop of which Marconi sent the first trans Atlantic wireless signal! My biological father was to be part of the next crew! I have two sample bottles he brought back from the Ranger, one of sediment and one of oil!
JaseCJay: Not sure if it's actually the oldest but Newfoundland was Britain's first colony, founded in the early 16th century, about 1504 I think. I imagine that some of the Mexican cities are older than St John's but not by much. Cheers mate, Dave, a Brit in Vancouver, one of the newest cities in Canada.
@@TheDavephillips New Foundland was actually discovered by vikings. It was called Vinland (land of Wine) originally.
@@GiordanDiodato Yes mate, I'm aware of that but many people aren't. Canada, as such is certainly the oldest colony albeit originally Viking, than anywhere in North or South America. Cheers!
I thought the Ranger went down before it ever reached any oil.
@@gomphrena-beautifulflower-8043 test drills
THATS RIGHT , YOUR HEADING DOWN TO THE WATER AND BUDDY, SAY'S ( SHE'S UNSINKABLE ) YOU TURN AROUND AND HEAD BACK HOME!!!! MAN'S BIGGEST FLAW, THINKING WE CAN CONQUER ANYTHING?
"MAN'S BIGGEST FLAW, THINKING WE CAN CONQUER ANYTHING?"
Especially Mother Nature!
Note to self never get on anything they claim is unsinkable/unbreakable because it always ends badly
Two things I don't fuck with - fire and the open ocean!
May the 84 crew members RIP Anyone remember The Andrea Gail fishing vessel in The Perfect Storm? She sank off the Grand Banks. May they also RIP
Poop happens :) I listened to it anyway as I'm from Hinton so I love that one. (The Audio portion)
it's fitting that you posted this one today cause today is Valentine's day
josiah kostelyk
Yep!
sick
Josiah K its ben 40 years for ocean ranger
*it was 35
I would love to know about the designers of this rig. Now there's a backstory...
The designer of this rig has been identified as the "Donald J. Trump Co."
@@csn6234 One of his more successful business ventures, actually.
Ocean Ranger was built by Mitsubishi in Hiroshima, Japan and was designed and owned by ODECO of New Orleans, LA.
@@HEDGE1011 exactly! My mother was given a choice between mitsubishi and Odeco to sue for wrongful death. She sued Odeco. The families in Newfoundland whom chose attorneys there were done a huge injustice. The american attorneys that represented some Newfoundlanders and the american families mopped the floor with the Odeco corporation for wrongful death.
I was on a rig in which the ballast control room had been moved from the leg to one deck below the port sponson only to be flooded not by seawater but by potable (fresh drinking) water from a badly fractured pipe in the space above which just goes to show that shit really does happen.
Fortunately the water drained out very quickly but the electric gear was still shagged.
We just had to operate the valves in local control instead of remote, all of the pumps were down in the pontoons so we were ok.
I wonder why the Ocean Ranger crew didn't think to ensure the correct valves had been operated by visually checking them.
Anton
I don't work in the offshore drilling industry but I am an engineer of sorts, mostly electrical and electronic but will pinch hit into other areas so I can read and understand engineering documents quite well. Just out of interest many years ago I read the government report on the Ocean Ranger and was shocked at how many design errors and oversights were made in the ballast control system of that vessel and how untrained the ballast control operators were in in its use. Before responding to your comment I located and reviewed the section of the report dealing with the ballast control system. See: publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/Z1-1982-1-1-2-eng.pdf Three things scream out to me as problems:
1/ The location of the ballast control room making it subject to sea water incursion and the lack of waterproofing of the ballast control panel. (Fresh water is bad for electrical stuff as you found out, but salt water is MUCH worse!)
2/ The half assed emergency manual control system for ballast control that was invented "ad hoc" during construction of the rig by the owner's resident electrician. It was quite usable, but NOT documented. How to use it was (sometimes) passed on by word of mouth during "on the job" training of ballast operators and somewhere along the line the "sense" of operation was reversed. In other words, when using the manual control system (after seawater shorted out the control panel) the operator was opening valves when he wanted to close them and vice versa. See page 20 and 21 of the report mentioned above.
3/ The two pump rooms for the ballast system were located at the extreme stern ends of the pontoons. The pontoons were about 407 feet long. I just calculated using grade school trigonometry that it would only take a list of about 4.5 degrees down at the bow before the tank at the bow end would be 33 feet below the pumps at the stern end. This means that once that angle was reached the pumps could not be used to empty the bow ballast tanks effectively because they would start cavitating due to no net positive suction head.
In my opinion the bottom line is that the ballast system on the Ocean Ranger was poorly designed, poorly constructed, and poorly documented - and being run by poorly trained people. It was an accident waiting to happen... If the manual control system had been properly documented and the operators properly trained the accident would likely not have happened. Failing that, once the operators realized that their manual actions were having the opposite of the intended effect, if the pumps had been located amidships or distributed among the tanks so that there was net positive suction head regardless of the rig's attitude (within reason) then they probably could have dug their way out of the hole they had gotten themselves into. Instead, they went ass over teakettle...
I hope this sheds some light...
Vince
Vincent Sullivan
There has also been a history of nepotism in the offshore industry, not so much now but it did exist.
Quite often the guy who was promoted was not necessarily the best or most experienced hand but merely the 'toolpushers favourite' and this led to situations in which that person relies heavily on those ranked below him for advice.
Unlike the Merchant marine or merchant navy in which members are all highly trained for their various roles and must demonstrate a high level of efficiency the offshore industry was run along the lines of 'if the cap fits wear it'.
Obviously the rig electrician must be a certified electrician but sometimes his previous work experience had little to do with an offshore environment and the same goes for mechanics, a typical greenhand mech may have worked and gained his accreditation in an auto shop which is obviously a far cry from a drill floor or pump room.
I have experienced and benefitted from this myself having went offshore from the merchant navy as a motorman and soon being given the opportunity to rise to rig mechanic without any formal training for that role, although I must say that I was quite capable of carrying those duties out.
iirc, they weren't trained in that event.
What rig was that? Do you even know how far it is from the control room down the legs to where the valves are?
@@johngreydanus2033
The 'Port Reval' an ex driller converted to accommodation and yes of course I knew where the ballast valves were.
Earlier rigs like the above mentioned had ladders down the legs to the p/p rms and pontoons which were a pain in the arse but that's just tough shit, we were always up and down the bloody things and so going down to check the correct operation of a ballast valve is not a life changing event.
Pain in the arse?
Yep!
An extraordinary event?
Nope.
I cant watch this anymore Sorry....RIP GUYS!!!
Oil companies do not care. The owners only care about making their money. I do hope the families were compensated though. The one guy did try to get better safety regulations and was denied. RIP all who died that day.
Sadly, you are right. Money always wins over safety.
Nothing should be called UNSINKABLE
How true that statement is.
Never call a floating vessel or drilling rig unsinkable.
It will come back to bite
It's unsinkable.
So was the Titanic. And the Bismarck. And the Yamato. And the Edmund Fitzgerald.
If it's called unsinkable it's gonna sink. To say that is hubris embodied.
I never found evidence that the Edmund Fitzgerald was ever called "unsinkable". And neither Harland and Wolff Shipyards (builders) nor White Star (owners and operators) ever claimed the Titanic was unsinkable. A shipbuilding trade magazine said she was "practically unsinkable" The press eliminated the word "practically" and claimed she was unsinkable.
@@harrietharlow9929 People still shouldn't say that. It's dangerous.
Really enjoy these. Well done. Always glad to see your notifications. Thanks.
Our pleasure Mtilford!
During a North Sea storm the Borgsten Dolphin was under tow, we lost 3 of the4 tow chains! I was on the bridge at the time and the coast guard was in contact with the radio op, who was also the chief medic, he was studying for his medics exam, and did not contact the OIM or any of the senior managers on board, he lost his job but nobody else? I personally heard the coast guard ask if we were declaring an emergency, and this medic just said no! No checks, no further up the chain nothing
We remember
In August 1983, the wreck of Ocean Ranger was refloated and sunk in deeper waters by the Dutch firm Wijsmuller Salvage. Three salvage divers were killed during the operation.
what was the purpose of doing that? the two additional deaths just sounds eerie.
@@diyr791 The Ocean Ranger was just thirty feet under the water where it had sunk upside down. It was believed to be a threat to shipping lanes which is why it was re-floated and sunk in deeper waters.
Does anyone kno if any pieces were brought up?
@@1984alicat There were some items recovered from the ocean like a smashed lifeboat but nothing was ever recovered from the Ranger itself as far as I know.
@@diyr791 was cheaper then actually recovering it but couldn't leave it where it was cuz it risked big containers ships hitting it
I was a driller on the ocean Ranger...The control room WAS Under The Main deck Not ON The main Deck
Why its sunk?
@@jimmyuk007 Inexperienced personnel running the rig...Thats why I quit off of her
@@jimmyuk007 People had a Nickname on her when i was Drilling on her...The "Ocean Danger"
@@dive2663225 that it?
Did u kno my grandpa Robert aka Bob Arsenault?
Notice a pattern? Every time a ship is called unsinkable, it sinks!
Also, I'm never not amused by the Papyrus font choice for the title and ident cards. It's charmingly innocent.
Its a crime against nature
This, as they say; was the proverbial "accident waiting to happen". What the hell were they thinking? So water that blew in through a cheap glass window sank this rig. How about that! The young valentines day guy was right to feel guilty about it. The older desk job guy was foolish not to see the danger. They all were. Wake up dangerous job pay seekers! The Company is not worth dying for!
Sorry to disagree. However, the younger dude had absolutely nothing to do with the sinking. You are correct to a point about companies not giving a damn about its own employees overall. Not all companies are that way however. Furthermore, yes dangerous jobs exist. It is very unfortunate. At this point in time somebody has to do them. ✌
In A storm..Procedure is Men Posted in Starboard an Port Pontoon Ballast/ pump Room's with back up Com..(Phones down there) PHYSICALLY Verifying The opening and Closing Of Valves..For trim and transference of ballast.
In the ranger..looking at the ballast board..Watching lights Flicker..and Just Guessing Valves were opened/ Closed, IS WHAT happened
Swallowed Up By The Ocean
11:35 He is very mistaken. Water is not lethal from falling 80 ft. Water becomes lethal at around 200ish ft
Given how cold that water was, I guarantee you that crew members became unconscious in a few seconds after hitting it.
Also, none of them jumped in on their own decisions. The wind and waves knocked them into the Ocean.
This is hard to believe. Waters in those will kill hypothermically in high summer. Like all management just seemed to forget that storms, like shit, happen.
It was actually partially refloated and sunk in deeper water
Good to know...thanks
lifeboat should be launchable from the lifeboat itself.
In this case the lifeboats needed to have lifeboats as well...
0:06 "Electrical storm"?
You mean thunderstorm?
Also: Great upload, dude!
thanks.
As a steward on a drilling rig like this, I was often in the bcr, and also in the radio room at several times during night shift? The radio op (also the cheif medic) was the only person on the bridge all night? In the bcr at the same time was the cheif driller? Can anyone see the problems?
Anger ranger danger
Senseless that so many lives should be shattered and lost. Yet the worker who called around everywhere he could to highlight safety issues was ignored or told not our problem.
Thanks for your comment and for watching. More new episodes are on there way.
the Atlantic is very unpredictable ocean
sure good excuse for incompetence stupidity and greed for profit
indeed.
It's a lot more notorious compared to the Pacific
@@GiordanDiodato Try the Southern Ocean.
@@corydorastube southern ocean?
@@GiordanDiodato en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ocean
Gee...stay out of the ocean 🌊!
What year did this happen please..?
1982
.
Life rules (2 ea):
*) Never allow the Institution to be embarrassed
*) Never allow your paycheck to be threatened
Broken fiberglass boats during drills do not threaten the Institution nor cause embarrassment.
Ppl with certain paychecks threaten other paychecks is the definition of "threat." O'Brien's paycheck does not fall on that list.
Breaking life boats during an emergency threaten & embarrass therefore the Institution will kill to protect itself.
This is why O'brian's complaint fell on deaf [money.]
Oil companies and families
Why does YT keep interrupting the ads with a story about a disaster? I want just one big never ending ad (soon to say cu later to YT hopefully).
@Robert Paulson Thank you! :)
Salty water always make damages because the salt NaCl is an oxidizer.
Thanks for the additional information.
A structure that never produced a drop of oil...my suspicious mind can't help but think about insurance. How much was the company paid after the disaster? 🤔