DRAT in Action
Oil spills can happen anywhere, including in
remote locations. Such was the case with the
large bulk freighter M/V Selendang Ayu in
December 2004. The 738-foot bulk cargo vessel
was transporting soybeans from the United
States to Asia when it lost propulsion in the
Bering Sea during a destructive winter storm.
The vessel eventually ran aground north of
Unalaska, splitting in half, spilling approxi-
An over-fight photo shows the bow and
stern sections of the freighter near Skan
Bay. Unifed command photos.
mately 336,000 gallons of oil products and
a great quantity of soybeans. The D17 DRAT
immediately embedded itself into the local
incident command staf structure and coordinated shoreline cleanup assessment teams to
monitor the targeted region, forwarding technical data on any oil that may have found its
Jennifer Henderson, a member of the shoreline cleanup
assessment team, examines
oil that washed ashore.
way onto the beaches.
Additionally, DRAT members supervised the
cleanup of thousands of pounds of soybean
"drifts" and identifed oiled or injured animals.
For more information on the Selendang Ayu, see
https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/85793.
Soybean-flled waves crash along the
shoreline of Unalaska Island, weeks
after the Selendang Ayu grounded.
48
Proceedings
The partially sunken bow section of
the Selendang Ayu takes a pounding in the Bering Sea.
Summer 2013
www.uscg.mil/proceedings
