![Amoco Cadiz 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Amoco_Cadiz_2.jpg)
The ''Amoco Cadiz'' oil spill took place on 16 March 1978, when the
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
''
Amoco Cadiz
''Amoco Cadiz'' was a VLCC (very large crude carrier) owned by Amoco Transport Corp and transporting crude oil for Shell Oil. Operating under the Liberian flag of convenience, she ran aground on 16 March 1978 on Portsall Rocks, from the coa ...
'', owned by the American petroleum company
Amoco
Amoco () is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a oil re ...
, ran
aground
Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or
waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...
on
Portsall Rocks,
from the coast of
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
, France. The vessel ultimately split in three and sank. The US
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
(NOAA) estimates that the total oil spill amounted to 220,880 metric tonnes of oil which amounts to over 58 million gallons or 256.2 million litres, making it the
largest oil spill of its kind at the time.
Sequence of events
En route from the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
to
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
, The Netherlands, via a scheduled stop at
Lyme Bay
Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel off the south coast of England. The south western counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay.
The exact definitions of the bay vary. The eastern boundary is usually taken to be Portland Bill on the ...
, United Kingdom, the
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...
''
Amoco Cadiz
''Amoco Cadiz'' was a VLCC (very large crude carrier) owned by Amoco Transport Corp and transporting crude oil for Shell Oil. Operating under the Liberian flag of convenience, she ran aground on 16 March 1978 on Portsall Rocks, from the coa ...
'', owned by the US-based petroleum company
Amoco
Amoco () is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a oil re ...
, encountered stormy weather with
gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).[English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...]
. At around 09:45, a heavy wave slammed into the ship's
rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
, resulting in loss of control from the helm. This was later found to be due to the shearing of threaded studs in the
ram steering gear, causing a loss of
hydraulic fluid. Attempts to repair the damage and regain control of the ship were made but proved unsuccessful. At 10:20, ''Amoco Cadiz'' messaged that she was "no longer manoeuvrable" and asked other vessels to stand by, and a call for
tugboat
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
assistance was issued later at 11:20.
The German tug ''Pacific'' responded to ''Amoco Cadiz'' at 11:28, offering assistance under a
Lloyd's Open Form
The Lloyd's Open Form, formally "Lloyd's Standard Form of Salvage Agreement", and commonly referred to as the LOF, is a standard form contract for a proposed marine salvage operation. Originating in the late 19th century, the form is published ...
. It arrived on the scene at 12:20, but because of the stormy sea, a tow line was not in place until 14:00, and broke off at 16:15. Several attempts were made to establish another tow line and ''Amoco Cadiz'' dropped anchor in an attempt to halt its drift. A successful tow line was in place at 20:55,
but this measure proved incapable of preventing the tanker from drifting towards the coast because of its huge mass and storm
Force 10 winds.
At 21:04 ''Amoco Cadiz'' ran aground the first time, flooding its engines, and again at 21:39, this time ripping open the hull and starting the oil spill. Her crew was rescued by
French Naval Aviation
French Naval Aviation (often abbreviated in French to: ''Aéronavale'' (contraction of Aéronautique navale), or ''Aviation navale'', or more simply ''l'Aéro'') is the naval air arm of the French Navy. The long-form official designation is ' ...
helicopters at midnight, and her captain and one officer remained aboard until 05:00 the next morning.
At 10:00 on 17 March the vessel broke in two, releasing its entire cargo of of oil, and broke again eleven days later from the buffeting of high stormy seas. The wreckage was later completely destroyed with depth charges by the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
.
Oil spill
''Amoco Cadiz'' contained 1,604,500
barrels
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
(219,797 tons) of
light crude oil Light crude oil is liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low viscosity, low specific gravity and high API gravity due to the presence of a high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions. It generally ...
from
Ras Tanura
Ras Tanura ( ar, رأس تنورة, Ra's Tannūrah, lit=cape oven, cape brazier, presumably due to the unusual heat prevalent at the cape that projects into the sea) is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia located on a peninsula extend ...
, Saudi Arabia, and
Kharg Island
Kharg or Khark Island ( fa, جزیره خارک) is a continental island in the Persian Gulf belonging to Iran. The island is located off the coast of Iran and northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Its total area is . Administered by the adjacen ...
, Iran.
Additionally, she had nearly 4,000 tonnes of bunker oil. Severe weather resulted in the complete breakup of the ship before any oil could be pumped out of the wreck, resulting in its entire cargo of crude oil (belonging to
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
) and 4,000 tons of
fuel oil being spilled into the sea.
A long
slick and heavy pools of oil spread onto of the French shoreline by northwesterly winds. Prevailing westerly winds during the following month spread the oil approximately east along the coast. One week after the accident, oil had reached
Côtes d'Armor. Oil penetrated the sand on several beaches to a depth of . Sub-surface oil separated into two or three layers due to the extensive sand transfer that occurred on the beaches during rough weather. Piers and slips in the small harbors from
Porspoder
Porspoder (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
Population
Inhabitants of Porspoder are called in French ''Porspodériens''.
See also
*Communes of the Finistère department
The following is a li ...
to
Brehat Island were covered with oil. Other affected areas included the pink granite rock beaches of
Trégastel
Trégastel (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of the region of Brittany in northwestern France.
Trégastel is situated between Perros-Guirec and Pleumeur-Bodou. Lannion is 10 kilometres away.
Population
Inhabitants of Trégas ...
and
Perros-Guirec
Perros-Guirec (; br, Perroz-Gireg) is a commune in the department of Côtes-d'Armor in Brittany. It has been a seaside resort since the end of the 19th century.
Geography Climate
Perros-Guirec has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classificat ...
, as well as the tourist beaches at
Plougasnou
Plougasnou (; br, Plouganoù) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France, located about 75 kilometres east of Brest, France, Brest. Plo ...
. The total extent of oiling one month after the spill included approximately of coastline. Beaches of 76 different
Breton communities were affected. Oil persisted for only a few weeks along the exposed rocky shores that experienced moderate to high wave action. In the areas sheltered from wave action, however, the oil persisted in the form of an asphalt crust for several years.
![Amoco Cadiz impact](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Amoco_Cadiz_impact.jpg)
The isolated location of the grounding and rough seas hampered cleanup efforts for two weeks following the incident. As mandated in the "
Polmar Plan", the French Navy was responsible for all offshore operations while the
Civil Safety Service was responsible for shore cleanup activities. Although the total quantity of collected oil and water reached 100,000 tons, less than 20,000 tons of oil were recovered from this liquid after treatment in refining plants.
The nature of the oil and rough seas contributed to the rapid formation of a "chocolate mousse"
emulsification
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Altho ...
of oil and water. This viscous emulsification greatly complicated the cleanup efforts. French authorities decided not to use dispersants in sensitive areas or the coastal fringe where water depth was less than . Had dispersant been applied from the air in the vicinity of the spill source, the formation of mousse might have been prevented.
At the time, the ''Amoco Cadiz ''incident resulted in the largest loss of marine life ever recorded from an oil spill. Mortalities of most animals occurred over the two months following the spill. Two weeks following the accident, millions of dead
molluscs,
sea urchins, and other bottom dwelling organisms washed ashore. Diving birds constituted the majority of the nearly 20,000 dead birds that were recovered. The
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...
mortality from the spill was estimated at 9,000 tons. Fishermen in the area caught fish with skin ulcerations and tumors. Some of the fish caught in the area reportedly had a strong taste of petroleum. Although
echinoderm
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the s ...
and small
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
populations almost completely disappeared, the populations of many species recovered within a year. Cleanup activities on rocky shores, such as pressure-washing, also caused habitat impacts.
The ''Amoco Cadiz'' spill, the largest in history at that point, was one of the most studied; many studies remain in progress in the early 21st century. It was also the first spill in which
estuarine tidal rivers were oiled. No follow-up mitigation existed to deal with asphalt formation and problems that resulted after the initial aggressive cleanup.
Additional erosion of beaches occurred in several places where no attempt was made to restore the gravel that was removed to lower the beach face. Many of the affected marshes, mudflats, and sandy beaches, were low-energy areas. Evidence of oiled beach sediments can still be seen in some of these sheltered areas. Layers of sub-surface oil still remain buried in many of the impacted beaches.
Culture
The ''Amoco Cadiz'' and its spill features in one of
Steve Forbert's songs about oil pollution.
Speedy J has a song named "Amoco Cadiz" on his album ''A Shocking Hobby''. French popstar
Alain Barriere had a disco hit in France with a song called "Amoco".
Footage of the incident appeared in the film ''Days of Fury'' (1979), directed by Fred Warshofsky and hosted by
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
.
Legal claims
In 1978, it was estimated to have caused US$250 million in damage to fisheries and tourist amenities. The French government presented claims totalling 1.9 billion
French franc
The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...
s to US courts (using the 1978 exchange rate and with interest added this came to at least US$1.6 billion). In 1984, US District Court Judge Frank J. McGarr held that Amoco was liable for damages when he issued his trial verdict, after 3½ years of legal proceedings. Further, the judge ruled that Amoco had put off needed maintenance on the vessel in order to keep it at sea. In 1992, Amoco decided not to appeal against the court order.
http://www.insurance-times.net/article/amoco-agrees-pay-us230m (accessed 15 May 2018).
See also
* Torrey Canyon oil spill, ''Torrey Canyon'' oil spill – nearby and similar disaster in 1967
*'' MT Haven'' – formerly ''Amoco Milford Haven'', sister ship of ''Amoco Cadiz'' that also sank and caused an oil spill disaster.
*List of oil spills
This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, 256 Imperial gallon ...
References
External links
Oil Spills: A Case Study of the Amoco Cadiz Oil Spill
at ''Green Nature''
– Some information on 18 March-24 March
Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution – Amoco Cadiz
{{coord, 47.578, -3.212, type:event_globe:earth_region:FR, display=title
Oil spills in France
Maritime incidents in 1978
Maritime incidents in France
1978 in France
Amoco
1978 in the environment
1978 disasters in France