Word: bligh
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...exhausted and asleep, was supposed to relieve Cousins, but the third mate had told him to take his time. In any case, Hazelwood ordered Cousins to make a right turn back into the outbound lanes when the vessel reached a navigational point near Busby Island, three miles north of Bligh Reef. The captain then returned to his cabin, just 15 ft. and one stairway from the bridge, reportedly to complete his paperwork...
...According to a report in the Anchorage Times last week, Hazelwood may have done more than just hand the ship over to an uncertified third mate, a serious enough lapse in itself. To change sea-lanes, he had set the ship on a course that pointed it toward treacherous Bligh Reef, the Times reported, then allegedly left it on autopilot without telling anyone. Thus, when the third mate realized he was headed for disaster and tried to steer the ship, he could...
...lost radar contact with the ship. The local newspaper, the Valdez Vanguard, reported that the Coast Guard two years ago replaced its radar with a less powerful unit. Had it maintained contact, the Coast Guard could have warned Cousins that he was straying close to the dangerous rocks of Bligh Reef...
...Transportation Safety Board, the accident was preceded by a series of commands that put the vessel a mile out of the shipping lanes and into harm's way. Cousins and finally Hazelwood, who had returned to the bridge, issued contradictory orders. Shortly after midnight, the tanker impaled itself on Bligh Reef, its hull torn by gashes, some thought to be 15 ft. wide. At least 240,000 bbl. of oil, equal to 10.1 million gal., poured out of the wounds...
Salvage crews pumped compressed air into the $125 million ship and floated it off Bligh Reef, 25 miles from the port of Valdez. From there, it began a 30-mile journey under the control of six tugs to a remote cove off Naked Island for temporary repairs, picking its way through scattered icebergs...