This paper presents an experimental investigation on oil leakage from the double hull tanker (DHT). It is designed to explore the dynamic process of oil leakage from bottom-rupture hole of DHT. The experimental test shows the leakage resistance mechanism of ballast tank space. The behavior of oil leakage from damaged DHT and dynamic features of flow in the overall process are demonstrated from experimental results. The overall process of oil leakage is divided into free-leakage and resistance-leakage stage according to the corresponding power to study the dynamic features of oil-water flow inside or outside the tank. The corresponding dominated factors of oil leakage in different stage are also pointed out, and the unsteady Bernoulli's equation is used to verify experimental results. Meanwhile, viscous effect in leakage process is discussed and the importance of hydrodynamic features associated with the mechanism of oil leakage is explored from experimental results. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.