page_title: SS Puerto Rican
section_title: The incident
hierarchical_section_title: SS Puerto Rican / The incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Coast Guard cutter Pt. Heyer stands by as the stricken tanker SS Puerto Rican burns following a massive explosion, October 31, 1984.
context_page_description: The SS Puerto Rican, was an American-flagged tanker disabled by an explosion on October 31, 1984. The 20,295 GRT, 632 ft, tanker was owned by Bankers Trust Company and operated by Keystone Shipping Co. of Philadelphia which burned in an explosion with the stern section sinking just hours after leaving San Francisco bound for New Orleans with a cargo of 91,984 barrels of lubricating oil and additives. In addition to the cargo the ship was fueled with 8,500 barrels of Heavy Fuel Oil before departure.
  The ship had departed just after midnight and was in the process of disembarking the pilot at 3:24 a.m. when an explosion occurred near the No. 6 center-independent tank blowing the pilot Captain James S. Nolan and two crew members into the water. The pilot boat San Francisco rescued the pilot and one of the two crew members.
context_section_description: The ship was eight miles off the Golden Gate  on October 31, 1984, at 3:24 a.m., when she was torn by a very large double explosion just forward of her deck house. A 100-foot section of deck, the whole width of the vessel, was thrown up and then back down forward on the deck in front of it, as flames shot hundreds of feet in the air.
caption: Coast Guard cutter Pt. Heyer stands by as the stricken tanker SS Puerto Rican burns following a massive explosion, October 31, 1984.
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