Bligh Reef Bligh Reef Bligh Reef, sometimes known as Bligh Island Reef, is a reef off the coast of Bligh Island in Prince William Sound, Alaska. This was the location of the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" oil spill. After the incident, US Code 33 § 2733 mandated the operation of an automated navigation light to prevent future collisions with the reef. Despite these efforts the tug "Pathfinder" ran aground on Bligh Reef on Dec 24, 2009, rupturing its tanks and spilling diesel fuel. Bligh Reef is also where Alaska Steamship Company's Olympia ran aground in 1910. Bligh Reef serves as a fishing ground
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