All links leave this blog. One of the greatest marine accidents
of the 20th century involved an ocean liner hitting an iceberg.
The 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking is April 15, and I
always cringe when I think of the crew trying and failing to
turn the massive, 883 foot-long ship just before hitting the
iceberg. I know how long it can take to turn and stop a large
vessel (sometimes as many as 5 miles). But did you know that
another great maritime accident of the 20th century came from a
ship changing course to avoid ice? On March 24, 1989, the tanker
Exxon Valdez left its namesake port in Alaska, loaded with 53
million gallons of North Slope crude oil bound for Long Beach,
Calif. Most people know that hours later the Exxon Valdez
grounded at Bligh Reef, spilling some 10.8 million gallons of
crude oil into Prince William Sound. Just before midnight,
Captain Joe Hazelwood called the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic
Center on the radio and said he was changing course and
diverting from the designated traffic