Torrey Canyon oil spill
The Torrey Canyon oil spill, which occurred on March 18, 1967, off the coast of England, is one of the most significant environmental disasters in maritime history. The oil tanker Torrey Canyon, carrying over 119,000 tons of Kuwaiti crude oil, ran aground on the Seven Stones Shoal after the captain chose a risky route between the Scilly Isles and the shoal. The grounding resulted in extensive oil leakage, impacting a vast area of sea and coastline. Approximately 75,000 seabirds and countless other marine creatures perished due to the spill, with the environmental effects exacerbated by the toxic detergents used in cleanup efforts. These detergents not only failed to effectively manage the oil but also caused significant harm to marine life and coastal ecosystems. Efforts to salvage the vessel included bombing attempts that ultimately proved ineffective. The disaster prompted a massive cleanup operation involving military personnel and heavy equipment, but some environmental effects lingered for decades. Even now, remnants of the oil from the spill can still be found in certain locations, highlighting the long-term consequences of such catastrophic events.
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Torrey Canyon oil spill
THE EVENT: Grounding of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon off the coast of England, resulting in the spilling of tons of crude oil into the sea
DATE: March 18, 1967
The Torrey Canyon spill resulted in the deaths of some 75,000 seabirds and countless other marine animals. Attempts to remove the oil that was deposited on beaches in England and France also caused great environmental harm, as many of the detergents used were toxic.
The Torrey Canyon was built at Newport News shipbuilding yards in Virginia in 1959 and was modified at Sasebo, Japan, in 1964. The ship was 297 meters (974 feet) long, 38 meters (125 feet) wide, and had a draft of 16 meters (52 feet), with eighteen cargo tanks capable of carrying 120,000 tons of oil. The vessel was owned by Union Oil Company of Los Angeles, California. It was chartered to British Petroleum and flew the Liberian flag while carrying predominantly Italian officers and crew.
When the Torrey Canyon departed Mina ala Ahmadi in the Persian Gulf in early 1967, it was loaded with 119,193 tons of Kuwaiti crude oil. It was bound for Milford Haven in Wales. The last leg of the voyage was to go past the Scilly Isles and into the Bristol Channel. The Scilly Isles lie about 34 kilometers (21 miles) off Land’s End along the Cornwall coast of England. The Seven Stones Shoal lies in between the Scilly Isles and Land’s End. The Torrey Canyon normally passed outside the Scilly Isles. On this voyage, however, the captain chose to pass between the islands and the shoal. The vessel ran aground on the Seven Stones Shoal on March 18.
Once the Torrey Canyon was aground, it began leaking oil. A effort was quickly undertaken to try to refloat the vessel. At the same time, detergent was sprayed over the spilled oil to help disperse it. After one week of work, the vessel was broken into pieces while salvagers were attempting to tow it off the shoal. By this time the oil had blanketed the sea within an 80-kilometer (50-mile) radius of the vessel; on some of the beaches where it had begun to wash ashore, the oil was 46 centimeters (18 inches) thick.
The salvagers were not equipped to deal with the volume of oil spilled. After twelve days of salvage efforts, the British Royal Air Force began to drop explosive bombs and incendiary devices around the vessel in an attempt to burn the oil. Some small fires were started, but this technique failed. The oil continued to spread over the coasts of England and France. Both governments called in troops to help remove oil from the beaches. Pump trucks and boats were used to pump oil off the beaches, and bulldozers and other heavy equipment were used to remove contaminated sand and rock. The largest single environmental problem that arose was caused by the use of detergents to remove oil from rocky and hard-to-reach places on the beaches in both England and France. Many of these detergents were toxic and killed everything in their path.
Many effects from the spill continued to be felt long after the oil was gone. An estimated 75,000 seabirds died as a result of the spill, as did unknown numbers of other animals of all types. Some of these deaths were directly caused by the effects of the oil, while others were caused by the detergents and heavy equipment used to remove the oil. More than a half century after the spill, some of the oil that was dumped into a quarry in the Channel Islands still remains there.
Bibliography
Clark, R. B. Marine Pollution. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Fingas, Merv. The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2012.
Vaughan, Adam. "Torrey Canyon Disaster – The UK's Worst-Ever Oil Spill 50 Years On." Guardian, 18 Mar. 2017, www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/18/torrey-canyon-disaster-uk-worst-ever-oil-spill-50tha-anniversary. Accessed 24 July 2024.