The grounding of Torrey Canyon on 18 March 1967 was the world’s first major oil tanker disaster. It led swiftly to a new International Convention governing liability for oil pollution from ships. Until this landmark step, injured parties faced myriad legal hurdles in making claims against those responsible for oil pollution from ships. These included establishing jurisdiction over wrongdoers, finding an applicable common or civil law action, and the ability of ship owners to limit liability. The aftermath of the Torrey Canyon disaster brought about the widely accepted International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969, which was amended by the 1992 Protocol and 2000 amendments, and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971, which was amended in 1992 and 2003. This paper also traverses the way in which the British Government dealt with the unfolding disaster that, happily, no one has used as a precedent.

Torrey Canyon was a truly “international” vessel. The tanker was owned by the Bermudian-registered Barracuda Tanker Corporation, which was part-owned by American Union Oil Corporation, and she was flagged in Liberia. Her master was an Italian, Pastrengo Rugiati, and she had an Italian crew. She was on charter to British Petroleum, then partially owned by the British Government, and was insured or covered by P&I Clubs in Britain and the United States. During the oil boom of the 1960s, Torrey Canyon had been “jumbosized” by Sasebo Heavy Industries, a Japanese yard, to double her capacity.1 On the fateful voyage she was carrying a cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil for discharge at the Milford Haven oil refinery in Wales.2