User:Dual Freq/Joseph Hazelwood

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[[Image:Time cover-Joseph Hazelwood Exxon Valdez July 24 1989.jpg|thumb|250px|Time magazine featured Joseph Hazelwood and the Exxon Valdez in the July 24, 1989 edition.]] Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood (born 1946 in Georgia) was the captain of the Exxon Valdez during its 1989 oil spill. He was accused of being drunk at the time of the accident, though at trial he was cleared of this charge. Hazelwood was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of negligent discharge of oil, fined $50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. In 1999, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was listed as the 53rd largest spill in history.[1]

[edit] Family

Hazelwood's father, Joseph, born around 1922, was a Marine Corp torpedo bomber pilot turned airline pilot.[2] His mother, Margaret, was born around 1920 in Georgia.[2][3] Hazelwood was their first born son and has at least one brother, Matthew. He was married in 1969 to Suzanne, with one daughter (High school aged in 1989, college aged in 1997).[2]

[edit] Education

Born in Georgia and raised in Huntington, New York, he graduated from Huntington High School where his IQ was tested at 140. Later, he graduated from the State University of New York Maritime College.[2]

[edit] Pre-Exxon Valdez incident

Following college, Hazelwood climbed the ranks of the Merchant marine until he obtained a masters license at age 31. By age 32, he was the youngest captain working for Exxon. At age 42 he became the captain of Exxon Valdez.[4] He was 44 at the time of the Exxon Valdez incident.

Hazelwood's drivers license had been suspended or revoked three times for alcohol violations since 1984 by the state of New York. His driving under the influence arrest on September 13, 1988 resulted in a suspension of his New York state driving privileges that was in effect at the time of the Valdez incident.[5]

[edit] Captain of the Exxon Valdez

Exxon Valdez offloading its remaining crude oil to another tanker 3 days after the vessel grounded.
Exxon Valdez offloading its remaining crude oil to another tanker 3 days after the vessel grounded.

Briefly summarizing the incident, Exxon Valdez departed the port of Valdez, Alaska at 9:12 pm March 23, 1989 with 53 million gallons of crude oil. A harbor pilot guided the ship through the Valdez Narrows before departing the ship and returning control to Hazelwood, the ships master. The ship maneuvered out of the shipping lane to avoid ice bergs. Following the manuever and sometime after 11 pm, Hazelwood departed the wheel house and was in his stateroom at the time of the accident. He left Third Mate Gregory Cousins in charge of the wheel house and seaman Robert Kagan at the helm with instructions to return to the shipping lane at a prearranged point. Exxon Valdez failed to return to the shipping lanes and impacted Bligh Reef at around 12:04 am March 24, 1989.[6] The accident resulted in the discharge of around 11 million gallons of oil, 20% of the cargo, into Prince William Sound.

During Hazelwoods trial following the accident, Alaska state prosecutors failed to convince the jury that Hazelwood was intoxicated at the time of the grounding. By his own admission, Capt. Hazelwood had "two or three vodkas" between 4:30 and 6:30 that same night, far less than the 16 to 20 required for the .061 alcohol level found in his sample.[2] However the defense argued that the blood samples taken nearly ten hours after the incident were mishandled. Most states, including Alaska, do not allow samples after three hours. A preservative required to halt fermentation was not added to his blood sample. Fermentation could have added to the amount of alcohol in the sample making the sample invalid. As a result of the accident, in 1991 the United States Coast Guard suspended his captains license for a period of nine-months. Hazelwood was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of negligent discharge of oil, fined $50,000, and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.

[edit] Post-Exxon Valdez

Hazelwood still holds a valid ship master license, but has been unable to find long-term work as a captain after the spill. In 1997, he was working as a paralegal and maritime consultant with New York City's Chalos & Brown, the firm that represented him in his legal cases. He was residing on Long Island in Huntington, New York in 1997.[7]

Though he was originally sentenced to assist with the clean up of the oil spill, due to the lengthy appeals process, his community service was conducted in the Anchorage, Alaska area, beginning in June 1999 picking up trash from local roads then later moving to Bean's Cafe, a local soup kitchen.[8] His community service was conducted over five years with the Anchorage Parks Beautification Program.[9] He paid the $50,000 fine in May 2002.[10]

[edit] Pop culture references

  • The 1995 film Waterworld, lampooned Hazelwood by displaying his portrait on a wall inside a rusted oil tanker later identified as the Exxon Valdez. He was said to be the patron saint to the movie's villain, played by Dennis Hopper.
  • In 2001, the animated series Futurama satirized Hazelwood in the episode, The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz when Bender, captain of an intergalactic oil tanker, was ironically, not drunk enough (because robots in Futurama require alcohol to function properly) and crashed the ship into a penguin sanctuary on Pluto, spilling the whole load of oil.
  • The Far Side syndicated comic strip showed Hazelwood as a clumsy person who spilled in various stages of his life; as a baby (his cup), teenager (pen ink in his shirt pocket), and others. The six-picture single-panel strip ends with Hazelwood driving into a water tower.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ 1999 list of Largest oil spills.
  2. ^ a b c d e Coyle, Daniel. Outside Online (October 1997). "The Captain Went Down with the Ship". Retrieved March 12, 2005.
  3. ^ Associated Press. Skipper's mother confirms he had drinking problem. Anchorage Daily News. March 29, 1989.
  4. ^ Hunter, Don. Alcohol stains record of skilled sea captain. Anchorage Daily News. January 29, 1990.
  5. ^ Hulen, David. Captain's record shows 3 alcohol arrests. Anchorage Daily News. March 28, 1989.
  6. ^ Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. Frequently asked questions about the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
  7. ^ Time, May 26, 1997 v149 n21 p29(1)
  8. ^ People Weekly, July 12, 1999 v52 i1 p62
  9. ^ The New York Times Magazine, June 13, 1999 p18 col 2 (35 col in)
  10. ^ The New York Times, May 17, 2002 pA19(N) col 1 (1 col in)

[edit] Further reading

  • Lost at sea - and on land. (profile of Exxon Valdez captain Joseph J. Hazelwood) by Pope Brock. Life, February 1990 v13 n3 p78(4)

[edit] External links

[edit] Things I can't include in the actual article

{{US-bio-stub}}

[[Category:1946 births|Hazelwood, Joseph]]
[[Category:Living people|Hazelwood, Joseph]]
[[Category:People from Long Island|Hazelwood, Joseph]]<!--Huntington, NY on Long Island was his home of record at least from 1950s? of 1960s? to 2006. Clearly the formative years of his life were spent in NY.-->
[[Category:People from Georgia (U.S. state)|Hazelwood, Joseph]]<!--Born Georgia, unknown location, moved to NY before High School-->
[[Category:American sailors|Hazelwood, Joseph]]

[[de: Joseph Hazelwood]]