On February 4, 1999, the New Carissa was bound for the Port of Coos Bay to pick up a load of wood chips. The ship's crew was informed by the local bar pilots that weather conditions would prevent the ship (which was empty at the time) from entering Coos Bay harbor until the next morning.
The captain ordered the ship to drop anchor 1.7 nautical miles (3.1 km) off the coast in order to ride out the storm. The crew used a single anchor to secure the ship, and according to a United States Coast Guard review of the incident, used a chain that was too short. The short chain and the weather conditions, including winds of 20–25 knots (37–46 km/h), caused the ship to drag its anchor.
Poor navigational techniques and inadequate watch keeping led to the crew's failure to notice that the ship was moving. Once movement was detected, the crew attempted to raise anchor and maneuver away from the shore, but the weather and sea conditions made this difficult. By the time the anchor was raised, the ship had been pushed too close to the shore to recover.
The ship ran aground on the beach 2.7 statute miles (4.5 km) north of the entrance to Coos Bay, and attempts to refloat it failed. Two of the five fuel tanks on the ship began to leak fuel onto the beach, eventually spilling approximately 70,000 U.S. gallons of "bunker C" fuel oil and diesel onto the beach and into the water.
on February 11 when
US Navy explosive experts placed 39 shaped charges to breach the top of the fuel tanks from within the cargo holds. 2,280 liters of napalm and nearly 180 kg of plastic explosives were also used to ignite the fuel on board.
The ship burned for approximately 33 hours. Additional smaller-scale attempts were made to burn more oil over the next two days, with limited success. The total amount of oil that was burned is estimated to be between 165,000 and 255,000 gallons.
The structural stress caused by the fire, combined with continued severe weather, caused the vessel to break into two sections around midnight on February 11.
The wreck of the New Carissa caused what is considered by many to be one of the most serious oil spills to affect the state of Oregon, and the worst since a 1984 spill near Longview, Washington which dumped 200,000 gallons of oil into the Columbia River.
NAVY, exploding ship, oil spills, the New Carissa runs aground
