Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood (born 24 September 1946) is an American sailor. He was captain of Exxon Valdez during the 1989 oil spill. He was accused of drunkenness that contributed to the disaster but was released from this charge in the 1990 trial after witnesses testified that he was aware of the time of the accident. Hazelwood was convicted of lesser charges, ignorant oil negligence (minor offenses), a $ 50,000 fine, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.
Video Joseph Hazelwood
Initial years
Hazelwood was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia, but grew up in Huntington, Long Island, New York. His father, Joseph is a torpedo bomber pilot of the United States Marine Corps that became an airline pilot. His mother, Margaret, was born in Georgia. Hazelwood was their first son. She married in 1969 to Suzanne and has a daughter, Alison (born September 7, 1975).
In 1964, Hazelwood graduated from Huntington High School, where his IQ was reportedly tested on 138. As a young man he was an avid sailor and a member of the Sea Scouts. In May 1968, he received a bachelor's degree in marine transportation from the State University of New York Maritime College.
Maps Joseph Hazelwood
Initial career
After college, on June 10, 1968 he was employed as Third Mate by Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later became Exxon Shipping Company. The first vessel was Esso Florence that was teleported in Wilmington, North Carolina. Hazelwood climbed the ranks of sea traders until he obtained a master license at the age of 31 years.
At the age of 32, he was the youngest captain to work for Exxon when he took command of Exxon Philadelphia, the California-to-Alaska oil tanker, in 1978. In 1985 he was the master of Exxon Chester when the asphalt carrier ran into a storm during a New York trip to South Carolina. Strong winds damage the mast of a ship including radar and radio communication antennae. Despite the crew preparing to leave the ship, Hazelwood moves them and guides the ship toward safety. In 1987, he became a replacement masters of Exxon Valdez who later received the Exxon Fleet safety award for 1987 and 1988.
Hazelwood driver's licenses have been suspended or repealed three times by New York state for alcohol offenses since 1984. At the time of the Exxon Valdez incident, the privilege of driving his New York state was suspended as a result of driving under detention influence on September 13, 1988. He entered a rehabilitation program in 1985 at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, New York. After rehabilitation, he received 90 days of leave to attend Alcoholics Anonymous.
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Exxon Valdez leaves the port of Valdez, Alaska at 9: 12 pm. March 23, 1989 with 53 million gallons of crude oil into California. The port pilot guides the boat through Valdez Narrows before leaving the ship and returns the reins to Hazelwood, the ship master. The ship maneuvered out of the outbound traffic lane in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) to avoid the iceberg. After maneuvering and sometimes after 11 pm, Hazelwood left the navigation bridge and was in his cabin at the time of the accident.
He left Third Mate Gregory Cousins ​​responsible for navigational bridge and Robert Kagan's Seafarers at the helm with instructions from a third friend to return to the southern traffic lane at TSS at a pre-arranged point. Exxon Valdez failed to return to the shipping lanes and crashed into Bligh Reef around 12:04 am on 24 March 1989. The accident resulted in the disposal of about 11 million gallons of oil, 20% of cargo, to Prince William Sound.
During Hazelwood's trial after the accident, Alaska state prosecutors failed to convince the jury that Hazelwood was drunk at grounding. According to his own admission, Hazelwood drank "two or three vodka" between 4:30 and 6:30 the same night, his blood alcohol content was found.061. However, the defense believes that blood samples were taken nearly ten hours after the incident and mismanagement.
Most states, including Alaska, do not allow samples after three hours and preservatives necessary to stop fermentation are not added to the sample. Fermentation can be added to the amount of alcohol in the sample, making the result invalid. As a result of the accident, in 1991, the Coast Guard of the United States suspended its master license for a period of nine months. Hazelwood was freed on all charges of crime, but was found guilty of minor allegations of petroleum abuses, fined $ 50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.
Post- Exxon Valdez
Hazelwood never revoked his master license and remains in effect until now, but he can not find a long-term job as a captain after the spill. His alma mater, SUNY Maritime College, hired him in a solidarity event as a teacher at T/S Empire State V years after the incident with Valdez. In 1997, he worked as a para-legal and maritime consultant with Chalos & amp; Brown, the company that represents it in his legal case. He lived in Long Island originally in 1997.
Although he was initially sentenced to help clean up the oil spill, due to a lengthy appeals process, his community service was conducted in Anchorage, Alaska, county, from June 1999 taking garbage from local roads, then moving to Bean's Cafe, a local public kitchen. The community service was conducted over five years with the Anchorage Park Maintenance Program. He paid a $ 50,000 fine in May 2002.
In 2009, Hazelwood offered a "heartfelt apology" to the people of Alaska, but suggested he had been blamed for the disaster: "The real story is out there for anyone who wants to see the facts, but that's not a sexy story. not an easy story, "he said. Hazelwood said he felt Alaska always gave him a fair sway. The apology appears in an interview in The Spill: Personal Story from Exxon Valdez Disaster by Sharon Bushell.
Pop culture reference
After the Exxon Valdez incident, Hazelwood was ridiculed by late night talk shows and television shows. She is the subject of the "Big Ten" list on Late Night with David Letterman, where one of the reasons is, "I'm just trying to scavenge the ice from the rock for my margarita."
She is featured in a comic strip strip of The Far Side , which shows her as an awkward person who spills at various stages of her life; as a baby (his cup), a teenager (pen ink in his shirt pocket), and finally as an adult, driving to the water tower.
In the 1995 film Waterworld, Hazelwood was anointed patron saint of movie villain "The Deacon", leader of "Smokers", a group of robbers who scavenge. The film features a clear portrait of Hazelwood on their ship, also called Exxon Valdez . The ship also seems to have a large stock of liquor as "Deacon" is seen holding Jack Daniel's old bottle. This is another reference to allegations that Hazelwood was drunk at the time of the oil spill.
References
External links
- The Captain - Anchorage Daily News index story about Joseph Hazelwood
- A radio call by Joseph Hazelwood reported to the Coast Guard that Exxon Valdez had been offended and "proved to be leaking some oil."
- Thinkquest - Hazelwood Biography
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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