Oil Pollution on Woke Island from the Tanker R. C. Stoner 



By 



REGINALD M. GOODING, Fishery Biologist 



National Marine Fisheries Service 

 Hawaii Area Fishery Research Center 

 Honolulu, Hawaii 96812 



ABSTRACT 



On September 6, 1967, the tanker R. C. Stoner foundered on the reef off the harbor 

 entrance at Wake Island. During the following 10 days the vessel's cargo of over 22,000 

 kliters (6 million gal) of high octane aviation gasoline, aviation jet fuel, aviation tur- 

 bine fuel, diesel oil, and bunker C black oil was spilled along the southern coast of the 

 island. 



A shore and underwater survey of the contaminated coastline showed that an 

 estimated 2,500 kg of inshore reef fishes were killed and stranded on the shore. 

 Numerous other fish and invertebrates were probably killed. Evidence is cited which 

 indicates that most of the kill occurred on the shallow reef flat and the author specu- 

 lates on the lethal effect of the various fuels. 



INTRODUCTION 



On September 6, 1967, the SS R. C. Stoner . 

 an 18,000-ton tanker, went aground about 200 m 

 southwest of the harbor entrance at Wake Is- 

 land (Figures 1 and 2). She was in the process 

 of mooring to two buoys located outside the 

 harbor when the strong southwesterly wind 

 drove her onto the reef. 



When she foundered, the R. C. Stoner was 

 loaded to capacity with over 22,000 kliters (6 

 million gal) of petroleum products. The cargo 

 consisted of (1) 13,300 kliters (3,507,000 gal) 

 of J-P4 military aviation jet fuel, a mixture of 

 kerosene and gasoline which is light yellow and 

 mixes readily with water; (2) 6,700 kliters 

 (1,785,000 gal) of A-1 commercial aviation 

 turbine fuel, a kerosene fuel which is light 

 brown, mixes readily with water, and is a rel- 

 atively safe fuel to handle; (3) 1,600 kliters 

 (420,000 gal) of 115/145 aviation gasoline, a 

 highly combustible fuel for high performance 

 reciprocating engine aircraft, which is light 

 purple and contains tetraethyl lead; (4) 640 

 kliters (168,000 gal) of diesel oil, which is 



light brown; and (5) 525 kliters (138,600 gal) of 

 bunker C black oil, the vessel's engine fuel and 

 least volatile of the petroleum products on 

 board. 



Ollie Custer and I, of the Bureau of Commer- 

 cial Fisheries Biological Laboratory (now Na- 

 tional Marine Fisheries Service Hawaii Area 

 Fishery Research Center), Honolulu, arrived at 

 Wake Island on September 13 to survey and 

 assess the damage to marine fish, inverte- 

 brates, and birds caused by the petroleum 

 spillage. 



Wake Island, lat 19°18' N, long 166°36' E. 

 lies about 300 miles north northwest of the 

 northernmost of the Marshall Islands and is 

 administered by the Federal Aviation Agency 

 (FAA). It has a loran station operated by the 

 Coast Guard and a Pacific Missile Range in- 

 stallation maintained by the Air Force. Wake 

 consists of three islets forming an atoll en- 

 closing a shallow lagoon. The total land area 

 is about 6.5 km^ with a maximum elevation of 

 about 7 m. The atoll is about 7.2 km long 

 northwest to southeast and about 3.2 km wide. 

 The lagoon has an area of about 9.1 km^ and a 



