Workers who escaped Hell fire and brimstone were forced to sign a pact with the devil.

By Davis's estimate, it took 12-15 minutes to get from the rig to the work boat, but it would take another 36-40 hours before they were to return to shore – even though there were dozens of boats in the area and Coast Guard helicopters airlifting the most severely injured to hospital. Some of the men were openly furious, while others, like Davis, were just numb. He says they were denied access to the onboard satellite phone or radio to call their families.

.... Lawyers say the isolation was deliberate and that Transocean was trying to wear the men down so they would sign statements denying that they had been hurt or that they had witnessed the explosion that destroyed the rig. "These men are told they have to sign these statements or they can't go home," said Buzbee. "I think it's pretty callous, but I'm not surprised by it." Davis had been awake nonstop for about 50 hours by that point. He signed. Buzbee says most of the men did.

Congress should remind these criminal lawyers that contracts signed under duress are invalid. Then they should pass an increase in the corporate liability limits for oil spills.

Independent video shot from a small plane by Southwings, hat tip to Glynn Wilson,shows the hellish nature of the spill yesterday as it spreads from the open ocean to the Louisiana marshlands.

Today on PBS radio it was reported that 5,000 barrels of oil per day are being recovered by the 4 inch pipe inserted into the main pipe. The area ratio of the small pipe to the main pipe is about 25 to 1. That observation implies that the spill is 25 about times larger than BP previously admitted at approximately 125,000 barrels per day.

Thermal mapping with the AVHRR imager shows the loop current is spinning off multiple eddies that are transporting the oil in opposite directions.



Close examination of the photo shows Mississippi river water turning back towards shore in west Louisiana. This shoreward current is carrying oil into the west Louisiana wetlands.

Meanwhile on the southern end of the spill the eddy in the Loop Current is rapidly transporting the oil southward.

At the final forecast time the Loop Current sends flow in 2 directions. The predominant direction is towards the Florida Keys and the Gulf Stream.

Oil could be transported to Cuba by the Loop current within the week.

One week forecast



It could also be heading towards the Florida Keys and the Gulf Stream. Two week current forecast.

Deep eddies may be transporting oil at 1000 meters across the Gulf of Mexico in ways that have been totally unanticipated.

Dead zones could be spreading by eddies deep in the Gulf in the cold water below the thermocline.

One week forecast at 1000m

