Telegraph: 1967 Tanker Torrey Canyon carrying BP oil hit a reef between the Scilly Isles and the Cornish mainland on a short-cut from Kuwait to Milford Haven, Wales. World's worst oil spill then, UK's worst to date. Some 35 million gallons reached 120 miles of Cornwall's coast. The Labour government under Harold Wilson eventually bombed the ship to destroy it.
1978 Tanker Amoco Cadiz was on the approaches to English Channel when she lost her rudder during severe gales. After delays, arguments about who was...