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Oil-spill in Bermuda: A Case-study of Effective Litigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Thomas D. Sleeter  and
James N. Butler
Thomas D. Sleeter
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University
James N. Butler
Affiliation:
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Chemistry, Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A. and Bermuda Biological Station, St George's West 1-15, Bermuda.
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Extract

An oil-spill by the ocean cruise liner Statendam, in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda, on 2 August 1976, was pursued in the courts, the Captain of the ship being prosecuted successfully because of strong circumstantial evidence—including chemical analysis by gas chromatography which matched the ship's fuel-oil with a sample taken from the harbour immediately after the spill.

The conviction was upheld on appeal. The Chief Justice's decision set a strong precedent for absolute liability when oil is discharged in contaminated ballast.

A similar case of a spill off the Florida Keys, by the M. V. Garbis in 1975, was identified by gas chromatography and other chemical methods, but did not result in conviction because of lack of jurisdiction over the waters in which the spill occurred. The Statendam case appears to be the first in which chemical analysis played an important role in establishing a conviction for oil pollution.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1978 , pp. 21 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1978

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