Exxon Valdez oil spill State of Alaska's "Exxon Valdez" Oil Spill Trustee Council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the incident: Captain Joseph Hazelwood, who was widely reported to have been drinking heavily that night, was not at the controls when the ship struck the reef. However, as the senior officer, he was in command of the ship even though he was asleep in his bunk. In light of the other findings, investigative reporter Greg Palast stated in 2008, "Forget the drunken skipper fable. As to
History of the oil tanker engines, as opposed to the older steam engines. The "Vandal", the first diesel-electric ship, was capable of carrying 750 long tons of refined oil was powered by three diesel motors. The larger "Sarmat" employed four 180 h.p. engines. The first seagoing diesel-powered tanker, 4,500 ton "Mysl", was built by Nobel's competitors in Kolomna. Nobel responded with "Emanuel Nobel" and "Karl Hagelin", 4,600 long ton kerosene tankers with engines. The 475 ft., 7-masted schooner "Thomas W. Lawson", built in 1902, was the largest purely sail tanker ever built. It carried coal, and oil in barrels from Texas to the East Coast