Torrey Canyon

Oil spill-treating agents have been a subject of controversy since their introduction during the Torrey Canyon oil spill off the coast of the United Kingdom in 1967. The dispersant policies of several European nations and Canada have been reviewed and compared with those of the United States [433]. 

Tank vessel Torrey Canyon 03-18-67 Land s End, England 860,000... 

Tanker Torrey Canyon Atlantic Ocean, between Isles of Scilly and the western coast of Cornwall, UK 1967 March 18 121,000... 

Pollution from petroleum compounds has been a major concern since the mid-1960s. In 1967 the first major accident involving an oil tanker occurred. The Torrey Canyon ran onto rocks in the English Channel, spilling oil that washed onto the shores of England and France. It is estimated that at least 10,000 serious oil spills occur in the United States each year. In addition, flushing of oil tankers plays a major role in marine pollution. Other sources, such as improper disposal of used oil by private car owners and small garages, further contribute to oil pollution. 

The damage caused by detergents and dispersants during the cleanup of shorelines polluted by the Torrey Canyon spill were an important lesson. Subsequent cleanups of oil spills involved a much more judicial use of less toxic chemicals. In addition, their use became largely restricted to offshore locations and places of high value for industrial or recreational purposes, rather than natural habitats. 

In 1978, he Amoco Cadiz was wrecked in the same general area as the Torrey Canyon. Considerable ecological damage was also caused by this accident. However, the damage was less intense than that caused by the Torrey Canyon because less-toxic detergents and dispersants were used during the cleanup, in much smaller quantities, and only in high-value places such as harbors. 

Oil spills and detergent use from many famous shipping accidents such as the Torrey Canyon in 1967, the Amoco Cadiz in 1978 and the Sea Empress in 1996 (Bellamy et ah, 1967 White and Baker, 1998 Edwards and White, 1999). 

Torrey Canyon oil disaster off Cornish Coast - 119 000 tons of crude oil and excessive use of detergent kill many marine animals... 

Bellamy, D.J., Clarke, P.H., John, D.M., Jones, D.,Whittick, A. and Darke, T. (1967) Effects of pollution from the Torrey Canyon on littoral and sub-littoral ecosystems. Nature, 16, 1170— 1173. 

The first major spill incident at which burning was tried as a cleanup technique was when the Torrey Canyon lost oil off the coast of Great Britain in 1967. The military dropped bombs and incendiary devices on the spill, but the oil did not ignite. These results discouraged others from trying this technique. Only two years later, however, Dutch authorities were successful at burning test slicks both at sea and on shore. In 1970, Swedish authorities successfully burned Bunker C oil from a ship... 

The source of the pollution of the hydrosphere by constituents of the oil are of different origin. They begin at the site of petroleum exploitation itself (on land as well as in the sea), then during transport, when the water of oceans is polluted by fairly frequent breakdowns and occasional ship-wrecks. For example, in the wreck of the oil-tanker Torrey Canyon in 1967, 118,000 t of oil was spread on the surface of the English Channel. Within this ecological disaster 25,000 sea birds died. The use of cleaning preparations turned out to be even more harmful for the sea life than the... 

Increased interest in marine pollution goes back about 40 years, roughly coinciding with the publication of Rachel Carson s Silent Spring and with one of the first major oil tankers accidents, the Torrey Canyon episode. It is interesting to read some of the earlier publications on the subject of marine pollution, to obtain a picture of the situation then and of the perceived and predicted problems, to compare these with the current situation, and, perhaps, to wonder what will people think of the work, ideas, and actions of the 1990s 40 years from now. 

Toxicity. The second important issue when discussing dispersants is toxicity, both of the dispersant itself and of the dispersed oil droplets. Toxicity became an important issue in the late 1960s and early 1970s when application of toxic products resulted in substantial loss of sea life [71], For example, the use of dispersants during the Torrey Canyon episode in Great Britain in 1968 caused massive damage to intertidal and... 

United Kingdom 1967 Nearshore Torrey Canyon 105,000 bbls Kuwait crude oil 10,000 tons of toxic degreas ers/detergents variable reports intertidal mortalities [6] ... 

In March 1967, the tanker Torrey Canyon ran aground off the coast of Cornwall in the southwest of England, spiUing some 120,000 tons of oil into the sea (IMO, 1997a). It was the biggest marine pollution disaster in history at the time. Perhaps for the first time, the general public was made aware of the threat the marine transport of oil and other products poses to the marine environment. 

Since the Torrey Canyon spiU, the spate of accidents that have occurred shows that the threat from accidental marine pollution remains (Amoco Cadiz, 1978, off Brittany, France Kark V, 1989, off the Atlantic coast of Morocco Exxon Valdez, 1989, Prince William Sound, Alaska, U.S.A. Haven, 1991, Genoa, Italy Braer, 1993, Shetland Islands, U.K. Sea Empress, 1996, Milford Haven, Wales, U.K. and Erika, 1999, off Brittany, France). 

International Maritime Organization (IMO). 1997a. 30 Years on What Has Happened Since the Torrey Canyon, IMO News, no. 1, p. 28... 

This accident occurred on March 18,1967 when an oil tanker named "Torrey Canyon" carrying a cargo of approximately 119,000 tons of Kuwait crude oil ran aground on Pollard Rock on the Seven Stones Reef, Cornwall, England [3,13-15]. The ruptured tanks of fhe vessel started to spill oil and within the next 12 days, the entire oil cargo of the tanker was lost. 

Where and when did the Torrey Canyon and Exxon Valdez accidents occurred ... 

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