An oil spill cleanup barge carrying 17 people was adrift for hours in rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska on Sunday and Monday after a steel tow wire broke between the barge and a tug boat.

A spokesman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which runs the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and oversees spill cleanup equipment, said no one was injured or in jeopardy, even though the barge was loose for more than 18 hours. At the time of the break, winds were more than 60 knots and seas averaged 25 feet.

The tow wire, which is more than 2 inches thick with a breaking strength of 500,000 pounds, snapped Sunday afternoon northeast of Afognak Island near Stevenson Entrance in the Barren Islands.

The tug Endurance was towing the 400-foot barge, known as the Responder 500-2 Nearshore Support Barge, from Seward to Kodiak for an annual training with fishing vessels that help clean up oil spills.

It wasn't until 10:55 a.m. Monday that another tug, the Attentive, attached another line to the barge and continued the tow to Kodiak. The barge was expected to arrive there Tuesday evening.

The barge has plenty of shelter and other amenities aboard, including an office, sleeping quarters, a hospital and a helicopter landing pad. It is one of several oil spill cleanup barges associated with tanker traffic in and out of the port of Valdez.

Alyeska spokesman Mike Heatwole said the first tug stayed near the barge while the second tug came to the scene. The second tug is newer and more maneuverable, he said.

The two tugs and the barge are operated by an Alyeska contractor, Crowley Marine Services.

Alex Sweeney, Crowley vice president in Valdez, said the Endurance and the barge had fine weather when they left Seward but ran into unexpectedly rough seas.

He said, however, that the barge, once adrift, was never in danger of grounding and that it was big enough to handle the weather. The barge is 400 feet long and 105 feet wide with sides 25 feet high.

He said he didn't know why the big steel tow line broke.

"We're going to send it in for testing," Sweeney said. "It might have had a fault in it."

The people on board the barge included 11 Alyeska contract staffers, five Crowley crewmen and a medic, Alyeska said.

Alaska vessel breaks free of tug; 17 people adrift for hours in rough seas