A Maritime & Environmental Disaster
Way back on the July 1957 page, I reported on the Caronia not being so green that she could avoid prosecution and indeed in July 1964 she was caught red-handed by the US authorities. Yet, ashore in the UK, the tide toward environmental issues was still yet to turn. March 1967 would see that alter, though to begin with, not for the better!
On 18 March 1967 a supertanker hired by BP Trading Ltd., took a shortcut and ran aground on Pollard's Rock, part of the Seven Stones reef between the Cornish mainland and the Isles of Scilly. The Liberian registered SS Torrey Canyon was loaded with around 875,000 barrels (30.6M Imp. gallons) of crude oil.
The cargo was being shipped from Kuwait to a refinery at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The ship was reportedly trying to avoid collision with local fishing vessels when it struck the reef.
This remains the UK's worst crude-oil spillage disaster. Even all these years later the effects are still being felt both on the mainland and the Channel Islands. Although this happened off the British coast, initially it was Brittany in North West France which bore the brunt of what was locally called the “marée noire” or black tide.
The authorities in Britain were more concerned about the effects on popular tourist beaches, rather than upon any long-term hazards. Responses ranged from bombing the wreck to widespread use of strong detergents.
Sending in the RAF many bombs, including napalm, intended to set the oil ablaze were either extinguished by the waves, didn't detonate or simply missed their target altogether!
However, it was the use of oil-based detergents in bids to locally disperse the foul-smelling lumps that added to the environmental calamity. This may have quickly helped clear the beaches ready for tourists once more, but it also sent hard clumps of oil down to the seabed in their millions, where they are still present to this day.
Among the wildlife impacts, countless thousands of seabirds were lost in horrific circumstances whether by direct coating or later ingestion of oil or contaminated food. Most species took decades to come closer to recovery. Populations in France recovered a little more quickly through allowing nature to take its course.
This disaster led to attitude changes toward the environment, both locally and on a global scale. Also, supertankers were redesigned with double-hulls and an international federation now brings valid experience to tackle any new spills.
While in 2020 the US seems to be removing itself from several international treaties, including major environmental agreements, back in March 1967 the first list of endangered species was issued by Stewart Udall, the US Secretary of the Interior.
A total of 78 animals was listed as threatened with extinction and of the 14 mammals, 1 was the grizzly bear! How quickly human attitudes change also highlights the fragility of the natural World!
