From the Final Report of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission: “No one anticipated any unusual problems as the Exxon Valdez left the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal at 9:12 p.m. on March 23, 1989. The 987 foot ship, second newest in Exxon’s 20 tanker fleet, was loaded with 53 million gallons of North Slope crude oil bound for [the refinery at] Long Beach, California. Tankers carrying North Slope crude had safely transited Prince William Sound more than 8,700 times in the 12 years since oil began flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline, with no major disasters and few serious incidents. This experience gave little reason to suspect impending disaster.”
However…
Four minutes after midnight, the Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the pristine ocean water.
The oil defiled over a thousand miles of coastline. It ravaged the environment and exterminated vast numbers of creatures in the ocean, in the air and on the shore. It devastated the economies of local fishermen and native tribes, as well as the local tourist economy. Media around the world displayed horrific images of oil-slimed wildlife.
About twenty minutes after the grounding, Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Exxon Valdez, radioed the Coast Guard. The conversation was recorded.
Joseph Hazelwood (Exxon Valdez Captain) conversation
HAZELWOOD: Eh, Valdez Traffic. Exxon Valdez. Over.
VALDEZ TRAFFIC CONTROL: Exxon Valdez. Valdez traffic.
HAZELWOOD: Yeah, uh, it’s Valdez back. Uh, we’ve — uh, should be on your radar there –— we’ve fetched up hard aground north of, uh, Goose Island off Bligh Reef.
He continued, with what turned out to be a considerable understatement — as well as the notice that ultimately saved him from legal sanction:
HAZELWOOD: And, uh, evidently, uh, leaking some oil, and, uh, we’re gonna’ be here for a while. And, uh, if you want, uh, so you’re so notified. Over.
I was hired by Hazelwood’s attorneys to analyze this recording, as well as other ship-to-shore communications, to determine whether it could be used to prove he was intoxicated.
Even before I had a chance to analyze the recording, and long before the trial, the news media had decided that Hazelwood was the sole cause of the accident, that he was intoxicated, and that he was a villain and a fool. SKIPPER WAS DRUNK, shrieked a New York Post headline.
“Tell me a story.” Don Hewett, producer of the 60 Minutes television show, famously told his staff. Taking this dictum exuberantly to heart, the news media, well knowing the tastes, intelligence and the attention span of their audience, created a simplistic tale that made Joseph Hazelwood a scape goat.
He was the butt of late night comedy skits. “I was just trying to scrape some ice off the reef for my margarita,” snickered comedian David Letterman, as he listed one of Hazelwood’s “Top Ten Excuses” for the spill. The media were amusing their audience at Hazelwood’s expense.
He was deluged with threatening calls, including threats to kill him and to blow up his house. He could not show his face in public.
Professors of phonetics enthusiastically sought to use the ship-to-shore recording to prove Hazelwood was drunk.
Who was Joseph Hazelwood?
Joseph Hazelwood went to high school in Huntington, a prosperous suburb of New York City on the north shore of Long Island. Joe’s mother was a nurse. His father, a Marine Corp veteran and a retired Pan American World Airways pilot, did not allow alcohol in the house. Joe’s high school records show that he scored 138 on an IQ test. His sisters are attorneys and his brother is a symphony orchestra conductor.
From an early age, Joe loved sailing and was good at it. During the school year he was a member of the Sea Scouts, a branch of the Boy Scouts that gives merit badges for sailing. On summer break he worked on boats on Long Island Sound.
Following high school, Joe enrolled in the New York Maritime College, which is a highly competitive institution from which more than half of the students fail to graduate. As for those who succeed, the Maritime College web site states “Graduates enjoy a more than 90% career placement rate and earn some of the nation’s highest average starting salaries.”
In his Maritime College yearbook, Joe enigmatically proclaimed “It will never happen to me.”
Although he was notorious for rowdy drinking with his classmates, Joe did brilliantly at the college, which is why he was promptly hired as a Third Mate for Humble Oil, which later became Exxon.
After graduation he took additional classes and rapidly advanced: to Second Mate, to Chief Mate, to Relieving Master, and ultimately to Master. Of those who enter the merchant marine, only a few rise to Master, and only the most talented rise to command a supertanker worth hundreds of millions with cargos worth many additional millions. There is only so much room at the top, and Joe quickly arrived. At the age of 32, he was the youngest captain in Exxon’s fleet. Under his command the Exxon Valdez won Exxon Fleet Safety awards in 1987 and 1988.
The Exxon Valdez is big. At 987 feet in length, it is longer than three football fields; at 166 feet in width, it is wider than a twelve lane highway; at 88 feet in depth, it is deeper than a seven story building is high.
In operational complexity, a supertanker is comparable to airliner, albeit with important differences, two of which made all the difference on this voyage. For one, operations are implemented by a chain of command, so responsibility is shared. Second, ships take comparatively longer to react to commands so mistakes may not be detected until it is too late. As the saying goes, ships cannot turn on a dime.
The itinerary of the Exxon Valdez was an unremitting two-week loop: Load North Slope crude oil at Valdez, Alaska. Unload the oil at the refinery in Long Beach, California. Refuel and perform maintenance in San Francisco. Return to Valdez to load with North Slope crude. Repeat. It was hardly the romantic voyage that Joe imagined in his youth.
All in a Day’s Work
On the morning before the accident, Hazelwood and two of his fellow officers, Chief Engineer Jerzy Glowacki and Radio Officer Joel Roberson, spent some time ashore on a chilly day, two degrees above freezing, in Valdez, Alaska. They conducted routine ship’s business at the onshore business office, where they were told that the ship would leave at ten p.m., an hour later than originally scheduled.
Then they had lunch at No Name Pizza ”Eat in, or take out. The best pizza bomb south of Prudhoe Bay” Following lunch, they each went their own way and ran personal errands. As he did every Easter, Joe sent his wife and daughter flowers.
Later that afternoon they met at the Pipeline Inn/Club “Full service Inn with lounge, cable TV, telephone and wake-up service” They had some drinks.
On the way back to the ship, they stopped at Mike’s Palace Ristorante, Trip Advisor review: “I never teasted [sic] such good pizza and steak since I left new york.” They ordered pizza to take back to the ship with them.
While waiting for the pizza, they stopped in at the Valdez Club and ordered some more drinks.
They took a taxi back to the ship, where they learned that the ship got loaded more quickly than expected and was about to leave at approximately nine o’clock, as originally scheduled. The cab driver who drove the threesome back to the ship testified that no one in the party seemed to be intoxicated as far as he could tell.
A ship’s agent who met with Hazelwood after he returned to the ship said it appeared he may have been drinking because his eyes were watery, but she did not smell alcohol on his breath.
On leaving the harbor, the Exxon Valdez, like all outgoing vessels, was boarded by a harbor pilot, a specialized mariner who knows the details of a particular harbor – the hidden obstacles, the tides, the weather, the shoals – all the dangers that might imperil a great ocean-going vessel as it leaves the harbor. Ed Murphy, the harbor pilot who conducted the outbound transit, testified that he smelled alcohol on Hazelwood’s breath when Hazelwood returned to the ship. However, it was his impression that Hazelwood’s behavior and speech were unimpaired.
Joseph Hazelwood (Exxon Valdez Captain) entire conversation
Following is a partial transcript, with a time line and commentary.
[10:49 p.m., about an hour and a half after leaving the port]
Exxon Valdez [not Hazelwood]: Yeah, uh, ice report, please.
VALDEZ TRAFFIC CONTROL: There are numerous small pieces of ice, uh, from Freemantle all the way down to Glacier Island, and they [prior outgoing ships] had to deviate over into the northbound lane [which is ordinarily the lane used for incoming traffic] uh, for about half an hour. Over.