On Friday afternoon, January 19, 1996, the U.S. tug Scandia had an engineroom fire while towing the unmanned U.S. tank barge North Cape, 4.5 miles off Point Judith, Rhode Island. All six crewmembers abandoned the Scandia amid 10-foot waves and 25- knot winds; however, no one was injured. The crew was unsuccessful in its attempts to release the anchor of the barge, which ran aground and spilled 828,000 gallons of home heating oil, causing the largest pollution incident in Rhode Island's history, an incident that led to the closing of local fisheries.