A very large ship on a short cut
In the 1960s oil tankers were growing rapidly in size to reduce transport costs. The Torrey Canyon was among the largest ships afloat when it was lengthened and enlarged in the mid-1960s. It was registered in Liberia, owned through a subsidiary of an American oil company, and chartered by British Petroleum. In March 1967 it was heading to Milford Haven in Wales with a cargo of crude oil from Kuwait, reportedly about 120,000 tons.
On the morning of 18 March, the ship approached the Isles of Scilly off the southwest tip of England. Its captain, Pastrengo Rugiati, was running behind schedule and wished to arrive on a high tide. He chose a route that took the vessel between the Scilly Isles and the Seven Stones reef rather than the longer route west of the Scillies. Navigational confusion and a delay in changing course left the ship on a course toward the rocks. At about 9 a.m. the ship struck the Pollard Rock on the Seven Stones reef at high speed. The ship was too big for easy handling and attempts to correct its steering had come too late.
Oil escapes
The hull was ripped open, and oil began leaking from several tanks at once. Salvage crews, including the Dutch company Smit, tried for days to refloat the ship. Rough weather and the damage to the hull worked against them. An explosion on 27 March killed one member of the salvage team, and the ship broke apart in the following days.
By then oil had reached beaches in Cornwall, and later it spread to the Channel Islands and to the coast of Brittany in France, where it produced a long clean-up. Estimates of the amount of oil spilled usually run to tens of thousands of tons, although the exact total depends on how it is measured. Whatever the precise figure, it was larger than any previous spill that British and French authorities had faced.
Detergents and the clean-up
The government had no developed plan for pollution on this scale. Responsibility was shared between ministries, local authorities and the navy. The immediate tools were the ones available. Ships sprayed detergents on the slicks and on beaches, hoping to break up the oil. Large numbers of soldiers, sailors and volunteers worked on the shoreline, using spades and straw.
The detergents proved a problem. They were industrial products intended for cleaning ships’ tanks, and some were highly toxic to marine life. Later studies of the Cornish coast concluded that these chemicals killed many more shore animals and plants than the oil alone. Seabirds were affected by the crude oil, with thousands of birds dying, although the figures reported at the time varied widely. The lesson that heavy detergent use could cause more damage than leaving the oil to weather was influential in later practice.
The decision to bomb
By late March, the wreck still held a large quantity of oil, and the government feared that further leakage would reach more of the coast. After discussions among ministers and officials, including advice from experts, the decision was taken to destroy the wreck by bombing it, setting the oil on fire. The prime minister, Harold Wilson, was reportedly involved in the decision.
On 28 March, Royal Navy Buccaneer aircraft attacked the wreck with 1,000-pound bombs, and later that day and on the following day RAF fighters dropped rockets, napalm and other munitions to ignite the oil. Large flames and smoke rose above the sea for a period of days. The aim was partly achieved: much of the oil on the ship burned. But the pictures of a government attacking a wreck from the air were striking, and many observers questioned whether it had been effective. Some oil continued to leak.
Consequences
The disaster led to a long argument over responsibility. The ship’s Liberian registration, its American ownership and the British charter complicated any claim. Shipowners eventually paid compensation, but the legal system was poorly prepared. The British and French governments pursued claims for clean-up costs, and the sums involved were substantial.
The case led directly to changes in international maritime law. Under the International Maritime Organization, a convention in 1969 allowed coastal states to take action on the high seas in the event of a serious pollution threat, and another set rules on civil liability for oil pollution damage. Later conventions, in particular MARPOL in 1973, set wider standards for pollution from ships. The British government also developed national contingency plans for dealing with future spills.
The Torrey Canyon is often seen as the first major oil spill disaster in public consciousness. It came before the Santa Barbara spill off California in early 1969, and the two events together helped to form the early environmental movement. It was one of several events in 1967 and 1968 that reflected a changing public view of industrial risk. For the Cornish coast, recovery took years, and the story remained a reference point for later spills.