The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
SS Torrey Canyon Clean-Up
The documentary explores the international, legal and environmental costs of one of the world's worst ever crude oil disasters.
In partnership with:
Overview
The legacy of the oil spill from the Supertanker SS Torrey Canyon posed questions over the regulation of supertankers. Labour Minister Maurice Foley was on the scene as was the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. Volunteers, the fire service, army and naval personnel with local councils were all drafted in to help with the clean up. A major change was to come about in ensuring multinationals and salvage contractors were financially responsible for clean up operations.
The Torrey Canyon was a new type of supertanker which had had its hull extended to hold higher quantities of crude oil. The vessel left Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery in Kuwait on 19 February 1967 heading for Milford Haven in Wales. On 18 March 1967 the Torrey Canyon hit Pollard's Rock on Seven Stones Reef between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Thirty-six to forty million gallons of crude oil formed vast oil slicks and washed up onto beaches. Strong dispersants were used to spray the crude oil with emulsifying and coagulating agents. Foam polyurethane booms were deployed and the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force dropped bombs and aviation fuel on the slicks in an attempt to burn off the oil before it reached UK shorelines.
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