Sanko Harvest was a 32,502 DWT dry bulk carrier that sank off Esperance, Western Australia after striking a charted reef on 14 February 1991.
[4] Sanko Harvest had loaded a bulk cargo of phosphate fertilizer from Florida's Bone Valley mines, at Tampa, Florida and was traveling via the Panama Canal to Esperance when it hit a charted reef at 34°7′21″S 122°4′53″E / 34.12250°S 122.08139°E / -34.12250; 122.08139, near Hood Island within the Recherche Archipelago, 33 kilometres (21 mi) southeast of Esperance.
[5] Initially, salvage plans were put in place, however the ship started to break up and broke into three pieces and sank on the night of 17 and 18 February.
During the break up, all of the highly soluble fertilizer cargo, and the bunker and diesel fuel oils were released into the sea.
[1] The subsequent investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the grounding to be the fault of the Master and Second Officer of the ship, in navigating an area where acceptable hydrographic surveys were incomplete, and in failure to correct the ship's charts of the area, in particular with a 1988 Admiralty notice that described the geographical location of the reef.