Pitcairn Island News

Circling the world five times as part of her famed 30,000-mile circumnavigation voyages, the tall ship Picton Castle has often been called upon to deliver critically-needed goods, including medical supplies and thousands of pounds of donated books and educational materials, to remote island communities. For Captain Daniel Moreland, founder of the award-winning sail training program, these impromptu cargo missions are valuable teaching moments – an opportunity to learn how to safely load…

On March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The resultant spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil was not the largest in US history and most people forget that salvage and response efforts kept the majority of the oil safety on board the ship. The incident resulted in the relatively swift passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). A subsequent USCG Report  provides some context for the incident and changes that resulted therefrom. One of the ironies of history is that Bligh Reef was named by Captain James Cook (during his third voyage of exploration in 1778) for William Bligh, who served as master of the HMS RESOLUTION during the expedition.