Hazards Bubble Up from Old Wrecks-- Part 4: SS Jacob Luckenbach

I wonder if this has anything to do with that Texas place Willie and Waylon sang about?

The freighter SS Jacob Luckenbach, carrying military supplies had just left San Francisco in July 1953 headed for South Korea, when it ran into another ship in heavy fog and sank 17 miles off the coast in 180 feet of water and 457,000 gallons on bunker fuel on board.

In the early 1990s, residents in the area began to notice suspicious intermittent oil spills on the beaches. Over the next decade, some 51,000 shore birds were covered with oil and died. Oil and tar balls floated up on beaches.

Finally, in 2002, the culprit was found to be the Luckenbach. Cleanup and wildlife rehabilitation cost $2 million. Salvage of the 100,000 remaining gallons is expected to cost $20 million.

Something from the Past Coming Back to Get Us. --Cooter