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
Kirki (tanker) famous Clarke & Dawe sketch, "The Front Fell Off" from "A Current Affair". Kirki (tanker) The Kirki was a 210 metre long Greek-registered oil tanker which caught fire on 21 July 1991, 30 km west of the fishing town of Cervantes, Western Australia. The fire resulted in the ship's bow tearing off, rupturing the forward storage tanks and causing an oil spill initially estimated at 2.9 million gallons. At the time it was the worst oil spill to have occurred in Australian waters. The vessel remained afloat and traveled north to the waters off Cape Preston where oil remaining in