This Ship Cost $2.5 Billion in 30 Minutes

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I was a kid when this happened. My dad was stationed USCG Valdez. I was 6. He was the storekeeper. I remember going down the harbor and seeing the dead wildlife everywhere. It was one of the saddest events I have ever seen. We weren't allowed to help with the cleaning of animals since I was 6 and my brother was 7. My mother did the grueling task of cleaning birds. She would come home and cry. I never knew the whole story till now. Thank you. I never knew how or why this happened. Once again keep up the amazing investigative research in making these videos.

Hi there, I actually sailed on the Exxon Valdez then named “ S/R Mediterranean “ and then “ Mediterranean “ as Chief Mate in 2006 and also docked her in Dubai. I was a ExxonMobil Cadet in 1995 and she was transferred from the US fleet to Asia Fleet in 2003. The chair used by the Captain was locked up in the Bridge aft locker and still remains there since 1986. One of the most different ships i have sailed on - built in 1986 in USA and only ever meant to trade Alaska - California she was difficult to load and discharge in conventional ports being having the Ring Main System of crude oil tanker piping. She was finally scrapped in 2009/10 not sure of the year but in China. Rgds Capt JD

as someone who spent 10 years of my life working for ExxonMobil i can confirm that the company still internally blames "a drunk sailor" for the Exxon Valdez when the reality of the situation is Exxon had very shady company practices, pushed crews too hard, demanded too much, and cut too many corners. something was bound to break and this was the result.

I’m in the petroleum transportation industry and have sailed in and out of Valdez multiple times to load and discharge to a tank farm. This incident has been the cause of many regulations. Double hulls are the requirement now for all tank ships and barges I’m aware of now. Multiple companies ran single hull vessels right up the the deadline . The oil companies will lobby hard for more relaxed regulations. I personally have no issue with being held to high standards on environmental safety.

I have friends who are still affected by this in Alaska, it’s shameful that people who were kids when it happened are still suffering the consequences

I've worked with people who had worked on the VALDEZ, but not on at time of the accident, and people who were on the BATON ROUGE. I also did a lot of research into this accident when I was in college. There is SOOO much more. It is likely that Cousins didn't turn the Iron Mike off, and that Kagan (the helmsman) was trying to hand steer while on the autopilot (unlike a plane, manual inputs on a ship do not over ride the auto pilot). As such, all tankers are no required to have an alarm that sounds if you turn the wheel while on autopilot. Hazelwood was a great seaman but not a good manager of people. To him, the maneuver he left Cousins to perform was simple, but he didn't understand that Cousins had limited experience and was extremely fatigued and as such, it was dangerous to leave him alone to conduct the departure.

It is almost comical how ruthless exon, shell & other oil companies are. Using cheap but risky ship designs, lying about the contamination, delaying fines for so long that they’re worth just a fraction of what they should’ve been.

I was running a herring tender in Sitka when this happened - our next stop was PWS, then on to lower Cook Inlet and then Tokiak. The owner fired me and hired his brother-in-law to run the boat on a spill "cleanup" contract with the crooks at Veco which involved being tied to the dock in Seward most of the summer. I filed a claim for lost wages for that year and the next two based on what I made the year before. The fishery never really recovered. My $60k claim was reasonable, not padded and nowhere near what I probably could have made, and they literally appealed everything as long as possible, until finally finding a sympathetic judge. After nearly 20 years of waiting, I got . . . wait for it . . . $438.00. Not as bad as some people; many passed on, lost their boats, houses, etc. I have no beef with Joe, even though he was the captain and therefore responsible, but they kept him on even though they were aware of his problems with alcohol. The watch officer putting someone who didn't know port from starboard on the helm was probably not the best idea either. I honestly don't hate those guys, but corporate lawyers? Rot in hell, please after dying of syphilis!

I remember working in a mechanical workshop here in australia not long after this event. We had a 44 gallon drum full of petrol in eye shot of the spot we used to have our morning lunch. It had a sticker on it that read "Exxon, caring for the environment"

And in the early 90s, or mid 90s, the Unabomber took out someone who helped Exxon with their PR as well after this incident as well, and cited this as the reason why, IIRC

I appreciate the effort you put into your videos , the illustrations, your narration , and neutral unbiased presentation of the facts are top notch keep up the great work

It's disgusting how much exploitation, suffering, and destruction comes out of corporate greed and those in power unwillingly to regulate them. It doesn't matter to them how many lives are lost and mistreated, it doesn't matter to them if they're making the planet unlivable. All they care about are profits.

Even though I'm old enough to remember Exxon Valdez accident I never knew the details of it. So thanks again for another great video. 👏👏

I worked at Petro Terminal de Panama where the Exxon Valdez was headed to offload it's crude. The captain of this tanker was a well known drinker, he always had a taxi waiting for him when his ship came in. Basically he'd tie up his boat and go out to town and come back just before sailing. So there you go. All that responsibility and doing that !

Loving the "actual imagery" tags on some of the clips. Really adds to the immersion :)

It's become clear to me from watching these videos that the problem is not that we need to "just stop oil" but that the problem is cascading negligence by operators and decision-makers leading to catastrophic failures. The problem is largely complacency and negligence. "Every catastrophic event is preceded by a cascading series of failures." -Dale McConnell

I worked on the repair of the Sea Empress in Belfast dry dock in 1996 or1997,it ran aground off the Welsh coast, it is amazing the damage Mother Nature can do to 1 inch steel! Was absolute carnage under the waterline most of the bow was gone(it was held in place by steel beams welded onto hull and onto plates on the dock floor!)inside the tanks huge beams crushed and looked like a Cadbury’s flake! The only reason they repaired it was the screw was not damaged.

thanks for the red arrow on the thumbnail i almost missed that tiny breech on the tanker hull

I genuinely love when a new video on your channel shows up on my feed.. your story telling skills and your knowledge on diving and all things around that topic make the videos so much more informative.. thanks for all the great content 👍