OUR GREAT MINDS

by Tina Olivero

THE OCEAN RANGER: A tragedy that led to hope

Ocean Ranger

“I vividly remember the blizzard the night the Ocean Ranger sank,” said Bevin LeDrew. “It was a blinding snowstorm with very high winds in the middle of February. I lived in Torbay, just outside the capital of St. John’s, and we had just come back from a weekend curling tournament. My friend and I and our spouses were all together that night. My friend was a helicopter pilot and as soon as he got in the door…he got called out to sea. It was devastating, the Ocean Ranger had sunk. Our hearts sank right along with it.”

At the time Bevin LeDrew didn’t realize that some of the most important work he would ever do, would spud from such a tragedy.

HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT

On the night of February 14th, 1982, 84 souls were lost at sea. The killer: A storm linked to Atlantic cyclone winds and waves, a drilling rig that was simply not up to the task of handling the hostile environment of the offshore. Human error and a lack of safety, search and rescue operations all had a hand to play. Some have called it the ‘perfect storm’. Others the ‘royal flush’ but whatever it is called the fact remains it was a cascading series of events that led to the death of 84 of our people.

Mayday was the call at 00:52 a.m. February 15th, as the Ocean Ranger listed and was in imminent danger in the dead of night. At 1:30 am Newfoundland local time, the Ocean Ranger transmitted it’s very last message.

“There will be no further radio communication from the ocean ranger, we are going to lifeboat stations,” the final message echoed.

90 minutes later she sank.

It is estimated that by 2:30 local time, the Ocean Rangers crew had frozen and drowned. 22 bodies were recovered and autopsies confirmed this to be the fatal reality of the crew. Every single person died. 46 Mobil members and 38 independent contractors working on the Hibernia oil field on the Ocean Ranger perished that unforgiving night.

They say that every tragety has a secret purpose and we believe this may be true. This unspeakable tragedy gave way to what would become one of the most important safety regimes on the planet.

Ocean Ranger

OCEAN RANGER COMMISSION REPORT

The Canadian Royal Commission spent two years looking into the domino effect that led to a tragedy of unprecedented proportion offshore east coast Canada. The commission’s recommendations included an ever improving safety regime that made safety the number one priority offshore. The offshore safety culture we have today exists because of the Ocean Ranger. That was a gift.

Bevin says, “I was responsible for a team working on Part Two of the Ocean Ranger report – Improving Safety Offshore. We had a group of managers who organized consultative committees addressing a range of topics. In total, there were hundreds of people who worked on this initiative. People from all walks of life; operational specialists, search and rescue, emergency response, weather forecasting, loss investigation, training for emergency response, regulatory regimes and environmental affairs. We cast a wide net.”

Bevin believes that, “The industry underestimated the severity of the storm and the hostile environment we were operating in. While we had been active offshore for centuries there was not a lot of data available as input to the design and operation of mobile offshore drilling units. The industry underestimated the severity of the environment, and in combination with a series of other factors, these led to the cascading series of failures that resulted in this tragic loss of life.”

POEM: The Ocean Ranger – By Tina Olivero

try me, try me, the waves did tout
try my winds against your doubt
take a chance and find the way
rules to rest, left at bay

plan and plot the offshore castle
kings and queens of oilers facile
feed the energy appetite
the cold and foggy dead of night

but the sea she said it loud and clear
I am queen and ye shall fall in fear
and yet they built and made the Ranger
blind to see the imminent danger

we will concur, the biggest and best
a rig to withstand the ocean’s unrest
but February 15 the night we are damned
broke the wall of silence between ocean and man

the Ranger sunk to the bottom of the sea
84 lives, of you and to me
when it was never ever predicted
the ocean she scorned and man was evicted

the people were angry, and the hearts were broken
the families left with a payment of a token
the fingers to point and the people to hate
of watery graves left the shadows of fate

and so they moved on with new safety regimes
the problems were analyzed there at the scene
the systems in place to fix all of the wrong
nothing but silence between the notes of the song

the Hibernia field, it flourished at last
it’s foundation built on the pains of the past
the lives carved out in black history
gave way to the land of prosperity

who is to say that it was right or was wrong
we paid the price with the lives of the strong
should we be shamed or should we stand tall
for it is the progress of man that takes the last call

Commission Report - Ocean Ranger

OFFSHORE ENERGY HALL OF FAME

Decades after the Ocean Ranger Report was published, Bevin was given the honour of being recognized for his work on the Ocean Ranger. With an unparalleled commitment and an extensive work ethic on the Ocean Ranger inquiry, Bevin LeDrew from Newfoundland, Canada was inducted into the Offshore Energy Centre Hall of Fame on September 23, 2017.

Bevin Ledrew

Mr Bevin LeDrew

In the warm air of a typical Houston night, industry gathered in tuxedos and gowns to recognize and celebrate the great minds that came together to set the foundation for the safe environment we now have.

Bevin says, “The award was graciously received by Dr Derrick Muggeridge and myself. We had our photographs taken and the entire event was very impressive. I’m at the end of my career, so its kind of nice to be told in a formal way that the work that was carried out made a positive contribution. A lot of people involved with the Ocean Ranger have passed now and I think it’s important to recognize their contribution. We had a total staff of about fifty people and a network of consultants and a lot of industry people and government people who volunteered their time to make the offshore industry safe. There was a huge network and we should recognize their work on the Ocean Ranger Royal Commission. The work we did then lay the foundation of where we are today. I’m very proud of that.”

ocean ranger

Let the Ocean Ranger remind us that above all, we are never 100% guaranteed to be safe and that safety is an ongoing constant state of improvement. Those of us who reside in this province know that our offshore is a mighty sea with unforgiving forces. We understand the need to constantly improve and the importance of experience and collaboration.

Moving forward let’s keep that at the forefront of our minds for the safety of our people working offshore now, and for the safety of our kids tomorrow.

Tina Olivero

30 years ago, Tina Olivero looked into the future and saw an opportunity to make a difference for her province and people. That difference came in the form of the oil and gas sector. Six years before there was even a drop of oil brought to the shores of Newfoundland, she founded The Oil and Gas Magazine (THE OGM) from a back room in her home on Signal Hill Road, in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A single mother, no financing, no previous journalism or oil and gas experience, she forged ahead, with a creative vision and one heck of a heaping dose of sheer determination. With her pioneering spirit, Ms. Olivero developed a magazine that would educate, inspire, motivate and entertain oil and gas readers around the world — She prides herself in marketing and promoting our province and resources in unprecedented ways. The OGM is a magazine that focuses on our projects, our people, our opportunities and ultimately becomes the bridge to new energy outcomes and a sustainable new energy world. Now diversifying into the communications realms, a natural progression from the Magazine, The OGM now offers an entirely new division - Oil & Gas Media. Today, The Oil and Gas Magazine is a global phenomenon that operates not only in Newfoundland, but also in Calgary and is read by oil and gas enthusiasts in Norway, Aberdeen, across the US and as far reaching as Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. Believing that Energy is everyone’s business, Ms. Olivero has combined energy + culture to embrace the worlds commitment to a balance of work and home life as well as fostering a foundation for health and well being. In this era of growth and development business and lifestyle are an eloquent mix, there is no beginning or end. Partnering with over 90 oil and gas exhibitions and conferences around the world, Ms. Olivero's role as a Global Visionary is to embrace communication in a way that fosters oil and gas business and industry growth in new and creative ways.

    Would you like to know more about this story?

    Let us know who you are and how we can assist you.

    First Name *required

    Last Name

    Company

    Website

    Email *required

    Mobile required

    What are you interested In?

    Learning more about this story?Contacting the company in this story?Marketing for your company?Business Development for your company?

    I am interested in...


    Did you enjoy this article?

    Get Media Kit


    OGM - Our Great Minds