A Super tanker named the Torrey Canyon became the first really big oil spill disaster when it smashed into rocks off the coastline of Cornwall on the 18th of March 1967 and more than 100,000 tonnes of crude oil spilled into the English Channel. On its way from Kuwait to a Milford Haven refinery the tanker ran aground, and the lethal oil contents began polluting the seas and coastlines for hundreds of miles around, spreading as far as Guernsey, France and Spain. The unorthodox methods used to try to disperse the oil and mitigate any further damage included, the Royal Air Force and Navy bombing the tanker wreckage.
Approximately 15,000 sea birds became contaminated by the oil and died as well as massive numbers of marine organisms. The over usage of some untested detergents and dispersants to try and alleviate the oil contamination caused nearly as much damage and death to the sea creatures as the oil itself. If only the shipping industry knew then what we know now, how important it is that the correct use of Chemical Spill Kits supplied by professional companies such as hydepark-environmental.com/spill-response/spill-kits/chemical can save lives and help alleviate any environmental damages .
The 10,000 tons of detergents sprayed by forty-two vessels at the Torrey Canyon wreckage were originally intended for cleaning surfaces in the ship’s engine rooms and no account of the toxicity of their components was given any serious thought.