On 5 January 1993 the event, which many had feared ever since the arrival of oil in Shetland, actually happened. The tanker Braer, on her way from Norway to Canada, lost power during a gale in the Fair Isle Channel and drifted onto rocks at the south end of Shetland. With 80,000 tonnes of oil spewing into the sea, everyone expected an environmental catastrophe of monumental proportions.

Committee which was set up to deal with such an incident. This was its first test. Jan had to leap into gear. She had been involved in the Wildlife Response Coordinating

Suddenly Hillswick was at the centre of an enormous wildlife rescue operation and the help flooded in. Volunteers arrived from all over the world, along with wildlife groups and media personnel. At one point Jan was sleeping more than 80 volunteers in The Booth, and was fielding questions from 600 journalists.
In the end the wildlife disaster everyone had predicted did not materialise. The sanctuary treated 37 seals and seven otters for oil contamination - a lot, but not nearly the number everyone had forecast. miraculously the wind, which kept blowing at gale force for almost six weeks, churned the sea up so much that the oil simply dispersed. There was a huge sense of relief.

 
Fourteen seals being released back to the wild after recovery from the Braer

For Jan, the Braer was a turning point. She decided to close the pub and devote herself to running the wildlife sanctuary. The pub was converted and became the vegetarian cafe which has raised funds to maintain the sanctuary ever since.