The Braer Disaster (Eyewitness)

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An Eyewitness Account

The author, now retired, was duty receptionist at the Gilbert Bain Hospital on night of 5th January 1993. This is his eye-witness account of events on the day the Braer oil tanker ran aground.

January 5th, 1993

The first the Gilbert Bain Hospital knew of an impending disaster was early on Tuesday morning, 5th January 1993 at about 06:00am. I took a telephone call from the Police asking if the hospital knew of an oil tanker drifting a few miles off the southern tip of Shetland without power. First reports put the Braer Oil tanker drifting 10-miles south of Sumburgh Head with the crew still aboard and carrying an estimated 35,000 tons of oil. Later reports amended the cargo to 85,000 tons.

There were no reported casualties. Nevertheless, considering the hurricane raging outside, the hospital treated it as a major incident. Hospital staff were alerted and on-call staff informed they may be needed. Major incident or not, a major disaster was all about to unfold.

The news was not good. Reports later in the morning put the vessel 2-miles from Sumburgh Head with the 34 crewmen aboard about to be airlifted to safety. By the time I finished work at 08:30, little had changed in the situation.

The Braer as it passed at about 10:55

In addition to work at the hospital, I also spent a few hours at an office in Lerwick. Without a radio, it was not possible to keep up with the situation - and not a time to be shuffling papers! I lived on the edge of Quendale Bay, uncomfortably close to a looming disaster. Within 30-minutes I closed the office again and drove the 25-miles home to watch the drama.

As I approached the scene (the road crosses the airport runway at about this point) my first impression was of the Braer already aground on Lady’s Holm, a small island west of the airport. The weather was appalling and the vessel, towering above the low island, rocked to and fro in heavy seas. It was so close, it seemed impossible for it not to run aground. I live very near to Lady’s Holm on a small housing estate. From the estate, a string of houses set back a few hundred yards from the shoreline runs along the access road to a second housing estate at the far end.

By 10:30am, I was among the residents of Scatness and Toab lining the south shore of Quendale Bay watching in disbelief. The Braer was being pounded by hurricane force winds in a boiling sea perilously close to rocks a few hundred yards from the shore. For what seemed a long time, it drifted slowly past the rocks listing first to one side, then the other. The tug ‘Star Sirius’ was stationed as close as she dared, unable to secure a line to take the vessel in tow.

The Braer drifting behind Lady's Holm. Note the figures at the bottom

Armed with a camera, I took over 140 photographs from the same vantage point. Visibility was poor and it was impossible to steady the camera in the fierce wind. Only with the inadequate protection of a stone walled barn, and with shoulder and camera jammed hard against the wall would it remain still for a fleeting second.

The Braer began to drift away from the rocks and across Quendale Bay. I felt almost jubilant. She had cleared the rocks of Lady’s Holm and was drifting toward open water. If she could clear Fitful Head, she might miss Shetland altogether and drift further out into the Atlantic and safer waters. It was a forlorn hope. She drifted across the mouth of the bay toward the rocks on the north side, the Star Sirius not leaving her side.

As she reached Fitful Head, a helicopter lowered men aboard the Braer as she slowly began to disappear from sight. Only the funnel was now visible above a rocky outcrop, hiding her from view.

When I saw the Star Sirius move astern into open water abandoning her post along side the Braer, I knew it was all over. She was aground and all anyone could do was hope her 85,000 tons of oil didn’t spill into the sea.

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