A device for skinning spilled oil from a water surface includes a container being open at the front and having hydrodynamically stabilized, float-controlled shear flaps whose sharp front edge "shears" off an oil layer from the water and guides it onto a steadying surface having flow-through openings for water collected and dammed up until permitted to be discharged through bottom apertures by float-controlled barriers. The oil is collected in a tank in the rear from which it can be pumped into a mother ship which tows the container.