On March 24, 1989 at approximately 9:00 pm Joseph Hazelwood and his crew boarded their ship the Exxon Valdez, and started on their way out of the Valdez Harbor. Hazelwood than turned the steering of the ship to his 3 rd command Gregory Cousins, and Hazelwood headed to his cabin.

Shortly later they spotted ice ahead. To avoid the ice, Hazelwood gave a command seven minutes late to Cousins to point the ship towards Bligh Reef, than Hazelwood went back to his cabin. Around 12 am (three hours after boarding) Hazelwood heard a strange scraping noise on deck. He immediately ran up to the deck and there he and his crew watched horrified as the oil came flowing out of the side of the ship, he called the fish and wildlife headquarters for help! It was to late and too hard to fix this tragic mistake! To this day people are very upset of this incident.

The oil spilled in many parts of Alaska including he Katmai National Park which is 300 miles away from Bligh Reef, and in late 1990 they even found oil in that area. This accident also hurt and killed many animals. The oil spill was big enough to fill a football stadium! In the court trial of the oil spill people say that on the night of the oil spill Hazelwood had been drinking and was too drunk to know what he was doing, and in that stage he hit Bligh Reef.

The sentence for Hazelwood was faced to seven years in prison and also a $61,000 fine for "The Great Oil Spill." Hazelwood was bailed out of prison instead of the prison time, Hazelwood still had to pay his $61,000 fine. Although this was not the only oil spill that ever happened, Hazelwood and his crew have to be haunted everyday with the memory of that day of March 24, 1989 when the Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef!

Quotes from the Oil Spill:

 

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