Tanker incident revives memories of village evacuation (From Western Telegraph)

Tanker incident revives memories of village evacuation

The parallels between the stranding of the 3,000-tonne tanker Willy on the Cornish coast and the Dona Marika incident in the Milford Haven Waterway nearly 30 years ago, have been a talking point in St Ishmaels.

The Willy had loaded up at the Texaco Refinery, Pembroke, before delivering petrol to Plymouth. But it still had 37 tonnes of gas oil and 55 tonnes of heavy fuel oil aboard.

Just as the Cornish villages of Cawsand and Kingsand were evacuated because of the threat of explosion from petrol fumes, the villagers of St Ishmaels had to leave their homes on August 6th, 1973, following the stranding of the Dona Marika on rocks at Lindsway Bay.

The Dona Marika was six times the size of the Willy at 18,000-tonnes, and the drama started in a gale which blew the vessel off her moorings in Dale Roads.

Efforts to get a tow aboard proved futile and Angle Lifeboat stood by to take off the crew.

They were eventually taken ashore at St Ishmaels early the following morning.

No-one was injured and there was no explosion but it was some time before the Dona Marika was made safe and floated off the rocks.

Laden with petrol, she was described as a floating time bomb. It was feared one spark could have triggered a massive explosion as the highly inflammable fumes from her cargo escaped into the air.

The fumes could be smelt many miles away.