M/V ENCOURAGER; Mississippi Delta, Louisiana

Mississippi Delta, Louisiana | 1989-Jan-23

Initial Notification: On the morning of January 23, 1989, the M/V ENCOURAGER, inbound on the Mississippi River, discovered that a deck-mounted 3,500-gallon tank filled with aniline oil was slowly leaking. The oil appeared to be coming near a valve assembly on the tank at a rate of approximately three drops per minute; the vessel's captain estimated that five gallons of the material was on the deck. The vessel was scheduled to reach Cedar Grove, approximately 20 miles southeast of New Orleans, later that evening. USCG district 8.