February 5, 1970At 2:25 a.m., Capt. Anastassopoulos advised the "Narwahl" that the situation was getting worse with the deck completely awash and the entire vessel rolling and listing to the port side. After attempts by the crew to go full astern, the Captain and all thirty-four crewmembers were removed from the "Arrow" at 6:17 a.m. As daylight approached, the engines were silent and the oil cargo was quickly cooling in the cold waters. The forward end of the tanker was still firmly aground but the stern was securely afloat. Her fore deck was completely awash and she was down heavily in the bow.
By 8:15 a.m., William O'Connell of Imperial Oil Ltd. noticed there was an oil slick about the length of the ship and it appeared to be extending somewhere between four and five miles to sea. At 10:30 a.m., Walter Partridge of Atlantic Salvage was astonished to learn that she was leaking oil from the forward part, then after opening most of the ullage ports on the after deck, he found that most of the tanks were ruptured and open to the sea.
In testimony before the Royal Commission, Capt. Anastassopoulos claimed not to have seen much escape of oil when he reboarded. However, a Fisheries vessel "Sabella" reported oil around the wreck and several Department of Fisheries officers discovered oil at Guet Point on Isle Madame. After Imperial Oil experienced failure spraying a chemical dispersant, Corexit, on the slick, Mr. Whynot of Imperial Oil and Capt. Davidson arrived from Toronto and over-flew Chedabucto Bay where they observed a luminous oil slick as wide as the length of the ship and extending several miles to sea.