Word: reefs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...late. "We are in trouble," Cousins told Hazelwood over the phone. Moments earlier, the captain had felt the first shock of his ship -- and his career -- hitting the rocks. Hazelwood bolted onto the bridge, slowed the engines and took other steps to keep the ship from sliding off the reef...
...pilotage endorsement," a certification from the Coast Guard that entitles a licensed officer to steer ships in certain federal waters. In 1977, when the Alaska pipeline opened, such approval was required all the way down to the entrance of Prince William Sound -- past Rocky Point, Busby Island and Bligh Reef. But since then, the rules have been liberalized several times...
...stating that, provided visibility exceeded two miles, pilotage endorsements were no longer mandatory after a vessel passed a certain point in the sound. But the point at which the new rule applied is unclear. The Coast Guard argues that only certified officers could command ships down to the Bligh Reef area, where the Valdez ran aground. Hazelwood's attorneys insist that the point of freedom was the established pilot station at Rocky Point, some seven miles north of the reef. Hazelwood's position appears to be bolstered by a 1986 memo from Alaska Maritime Agencies, a Valdez shipping agency that...
...shift preoccupations of a watchman to explain why the ship was not picked up on radar. More important, although seamen insist they rely heavily on Coast Guard monitoring in the entire sound, Coast Guard officials maintain they are not technically required to track ships as far as Bligh Reef...
COVER: Captain Joseph Hazelwood was the best skipper in Exxon's fleet until his tanker rammed an Alaskan reef and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history...