GB. The Shetland Islands. The Liberian-registered tanker Braer lost power in a raging storm and was driven onto the rocky coast of the Shetland Islands on Tuesday 5 January 1993. Stormy seas have broken up the tanker which has now released all it's load of 85,000 tons of Norwegian crude oil, twice the volume that spilled from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989. 1993.