MV ''Spartan Lady''
MV Spartan Lady was a 581 feet (177 m)[1] oil tanker that sank in 1975. Flagged in Liberia, she was at the time of her loss owned by Compania Marittma Laconia and operated by Sea Spartan Steamship Agency.[1]
On April 4, 1975, Spartan Lady was sailing through heavy seas about 150 miles (240 km) south of Martha's Vineyard[2] when she sent a distress call at about 0810 local time.[1] The United States Coast Guard dispatched four helicopters that arrived about two hours later, by which time the vessel had split in two.[1] The Coast Guard airlifted all 36 crew members from the ship, though one subsequently died en route to shore.[1] The survivors were flown to Coast Guard facilities on Governor's Island in New York and in Hyannis, Massachusetts.[1] Spartan Lady's cargo of 500,000 gallons of oil was spilled into the ocean, though it was driven away from the coastline.[1] It took several days for the wreckage of the ship to sink, and the Coast Guard eventually had to sink the bow section with gunfire.[2]