Workers Flood Oil-Soaked Beaches : Weather Still Foe as Cleanup Crew Triples; Tanker Unloads Crude

Legions of new cleanup crews flooded Orange County beaches this morning, tripling the number of workers trying to swab up thick bands of oil from last week’s tanker accident that were being washed ashore by a long-feared weather system.

Rising tides and moderate swells continued to drag the oil onto the beach. Winds, blowing at about 5 m.p.h. early today, were expected to pick up again as the front moves into the area, possibly turning the slick as far south as Dana Point.

American Trader, which spilled 394,000 gallons of oil off the Orange County coast when it struck its anchor last week, berthed in Long Beach this morning and began discharging the remaining 19-million gallons of oil it carried. The ship’s crew talked with reporters about the accident for the first time.

There were “two sharp jolts” when the tanker struck its anchor, said Eric Bush of Seattle, a deck hand. Bush said he was dropping the ship’s second anchor when the accident occurred.

“Then the water was just boiling” with spilled crude, Bush said.

Coast Guard Capt. James C. Card temporarily banned tankers from using the Golden West mooring, where the American Trader, an 80,000-ton vessel carrying 23-million gallons of oil, ruptured its hull on Feb. 7. Card is also considering banning all “laden merchant vessels” within a half-mile radius of the mooring.

Spilled oil continued to wash ashore this morning, and cleanup and spotting crews were dispatched to beaches as far south as Laguna. By noon, an estimated 1,120 workers--up from about 400 Monday--patrolled 24 miles of coastline. Efforts were concentrated in the Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica areas, where oil damage was the worst.

“It’s pretty bad out there,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Rowe said. “We’ve had a lot of oil come up on the beach, and we’re getting more right now.”

Fatigue began to show among cleanup workers, some of whom have been at work for five days.

“It’s labor, labor, labor,” said Mark Smith, a Compton resident hired to swab the sand with cloth squares. “I’ve never worked this hard. I’m just hoping it doesn’t kill me.”

Another worker near the Huntington Beach pier complained that days of tedious work do not seem to have made any noticeable dent. ‘It’s tearing up our uniforms it’s so heavy,” he said.

Some workers stripped out of the heavy yellow suits altogether, attacking the thick globs in jeans and T-shirts. Concerned that workers may be exposing themselves to hazards, federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials hit the shoreline this morning, interviewing cleanup crews and reviewing their work.

Today’s onslaught continued to skirt a pair of delicate wetlands. Still, by late morning, biologists said the bird death toll had climbed to 97. Another 286 oiled birds were being treated.