40 years after Ocean Ranger disaster, families recall lethal storm that changed them forever

Seven-year-old Galliehue Blevins did not understand at the time the significance of a conversation between his neighbour and his mother.

"He had mentioned to my mom, 'Hey, is Tommy still out on the rig? There's a huge storm coming.'"

That storm did come, and it unleashed winds raging at 190 kilometres an hour and waves topping 65 metres. It took the lives of 84 men, including Thomas Blevins, 35, on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

One of those monster waves lashed the Ocean Ranger, knocking out a porthole window and allowing water to infiltrate the ballast control room. That caused the rig to subsequently topple into the Atlantic Ocean.

At 12:52 a.m. on Feb. 15, 1982, the crew sent a mayday, saying the rig was listing to the port side. It was the last communication heard from the Ocean Ranger. 

A two-and-a-half-year inquiry into the disaster later blamed the rig's American owner, the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company. It concluded that many of the men might have survived had they been properly trained and supplied with adequate survival gear.

At the time, the company described the Ocean Ranger as the largest semi-submersible oil rig in the world.

In the Blevins' home in Plainfield, Connecticut, Galliehue remembers a lot of friends and relatives started coming the next morning. 

"I kept hearing people talking about searching, looking for survivors. No one had told me but I could pick up tones." 

Blevins, 47, is the eldest child, the only son of Thomas and Martine Blevins. His sister Rachel was five and Amanda three when their father died.

"We were like peas in a pod. When he was home from the rig we always did stuff together. We went fishing…. We played baseball in the yard, we played football in the yard, and basketball," said Blevins.

In the days leading up to Valentine's Day, Blevins remembers his mom getting the children to sit at the kitchen table and make valentines for their father when he came home. Because he often missed holidays, Blevins says his mom tried to make up for it by celebrating when he returned.

Thomas and Martine had just purchased a new house the week before. All of Blevins' toys and clothes were in boxes, packed and ready for the move to another town.

But within days, it was confirmed that his father would not be coming home ever again.