# Can a large ship sail right through an oil slick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939 "2015-03-13T22:53:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/1 "2015-03-13T22:53:52Z")
Can a large ship (think a modern freighter) simply plow right through an oil slick, or would it still foul up the propellers and ruin them? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/2 "2015-03-13T23:29:44Z")
An oil slick is only inches thick. The propellers on a large ship are many feet below that. I can’t imagine any way that the oil would harm them. I’m not even sure that the oil would foul the props even if they were spinning in it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/3 "2015-03-14T01:03:52Z")
If ships can’t go through oil slicks, then why are all large oil slicks fought with boats? Google images [boat oil slick](https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=608&q=boat+oil+slick&oq=boat+oil+slick&gs_l=img.3...1422.3934.0.4485.14.10.0.4.4.0.228.984.7j2j1.10.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.62.img..4.10.975.--ZUCPsTXwc). ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/4 "2015-03-14T01:35:55Z")
A large ship wouldn’t even notice it sailed through an oil slick. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/5 "2015-03-14T01:41:20Z")
A guy in a canoe would barely be impacted, doubt a large ship would even notice. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/6 "2015-03-14T02:49:47Z")
Damaged ships have sailed hundreds of miles through oil slicks that they, themselves were creating. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/7 "2015-03-14T03:20:00Z")
If they’re not careful, the ship may capsize because oil is slippery. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/8 "2015-03-14T05:20:15Z")
Yes but it’s a bad idea. The oil coated hull will release oil and the ship may well itself get into legal trouble as a secondary polluter. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/9 "2015-03-14T06:30:23Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yes but it’s a bad idea. The oil coated hull will release oil and the ship may well itself get into legal trouble as a secondary polluter. This would be the only real problem. If the oil was several feet deep like 3 to 7 feet it would not be a problem for the prop. But it might be sucked into sea chests and foul some heat exchangers. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/10 "2015-03-14T14:26:33Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > If they’re not careful, the ship may capsize because oil is slippery. That’s why it’s also illegal to throw a banana peel in the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/11 "2015-03-14T15:12:58Z")
I wonder if some smoker could compound the problem by tossing a lit cigarette overboard as the ship sailed through it? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/12 "2015-03-14T15:20:23Z")
I was on a ship that spent days in a thick slick. The biggest consequence was a lack of fresh water because the evaporators were shut down for fear of contamination. Smokers weren’t allowed to smoke topside but IIRC they were allowed in designated areas inside the skin of the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/13 "2015-03-14T16:23:06Z")
How thick do slicks get, anyways? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/14 "2015-03-14T16:50:28Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > How thick do slicks get, anyways? The one I mentioned appeared to be two to four inches over a large area for long time. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/15 "2015-03-14T16:56:13Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I wonder if some smoker could compound the problem by tossing a lit cigarette overboard as the ship sailed through it? Seems unlikely. Outside of the movies, it’s actually quite difficult to ignite even gasoline with the ember on the end of a cigarette. Crude oil is just going to extinguish it. ---
**Author:** ![J-P\_L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/j-p_l/32/3156_2.png) [@J-P\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J-P_L)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/16 "2015-03-14T16:56:48Z")
I would think the biggest danger to any size of boat/ship would be sucking in some of the oil with the water used to cool the engine, it might create some blockages, especially if the oil is really thick. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/17 "2015-03-15T01:26:02Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I wonder if some smoker could compound the problem by tossing a lit cigarette overboard as the ship sailed through it? Even if the slick caught on fire, wouldn’t the ship’s thick metal hulls be able to resist the heat? The slick (which is thin) should burn away quickly, no? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Milton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6bbea6/32.png) [@Mr.Milton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Milton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/18 "2015-03-16T12:55:07Z")
The way it was explained to me is that typically the oil (I am assuming crude oil here) sort of self-distills; that is, the lighter, more volatile parts evaporate off first, then the less volatile parts go, and over time the heavier parts remain until you have a heavy sort of tarry sludge that congeals into little glops that adheres to stuff and sinks. It would seem to me that this is correct, since the world’s oceans are not permanently coated with slicks left from the earliest days of tankers sinking and even before that, oil naturally seeping from the earth itself. Oil that is spilled into the ocean does go somewhere (break down as a result of natural processes), eventually. On the other hand, it would also stand to reason that undistilled crude --crude that still has its volatile components— could be ignited if it were set alight immediately or shortly after being spilled. The oil from tankers that were torpedoed in WW2 commonly caught fire. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/19 "2015-03-17T15:28:25Z")
I’ve driven a 24’ boat through a couple of oil spills on the Ohio River. Other than having to scrub the hull afterwards we were fine. The smell isn’t pleasant though. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939/20 "2015-03-17T17:08:06Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Even if the slick caught on fire, wouldn’t the ship’s thick metal hulls be able to resist the heat? The slick (which is thin) should burn away quickly, no? **Yoyodyne** mentioned a slick several inches thick that took days to traverse. Even if the hull above the waterline isn’t experiencing large mechanical stresses (such that thermally altered properties don’t result in immediate mechanical failure), the smoke and fumes would be problematic for the occupants of the vessel, and the heat from the fire could be transferred through the hull to flammable materials within. If the deck is low enough, and the flames high enough, ignition of on-deck materials/cargo could be a problem. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-large-ship-sail-right-through-an-oil-slick/714939.md?page=2)