Word: accidentally
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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-- Aside from the question of Hazelwood's drinking, there is a dispute over the key issue of the Valdez accident: Was Third Mate Gregory Cousins qualified to be in control of the vessel as it headed out of the sound? Though the Coast Guard emphatically stated after the wreck that...
-- Sharp cuts in the size of the tanker's crew had left the Valdez shorthanded, contributing to fatigue that may have helped cause the accident.
By the mid-1980s, however, Hazelwood's drinking problem had become so obvious that seamen on other Exxon ships knew of it. "Ever since I had known of Joe, I heard he had alcohol problems," says James Shiminski, an Exxon chief mate until 1986. "He had a reputation for partying...
Coast Guard investigator Mark Delozier, who climbed aboard the Valdez more than three hours after the accident, says he found a "very intense" smell of alcohol on Hazelwood's breath. But Delozier also says Hazelwood did not appear intoxicated or impaired. "He was very professional," he says. "He didn't...
If Second Mate LeCain had climbed out of bed before the accident to replace Third Mate Cousins, the Valdez might also have got a more competent helmsman. Thanks in part to the high turnover of Exxon crews, Kagan, the helmsman on duty at the time of the accident, had been...