Joseph Hazelwood

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Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood (* 1946 in Hawkingsville , the US state of Georgia ) is an American sailor. He was the captain of the Exxon Valdez , which hit a reef off the coast of Alaska in March 1989 and caused one of the most momentous tanker accidents .

Life

Hazelwood grew up in Huntington , New York, on the north coast of Long Island . His father Joseph (born around 1922) was a bomber pilot in the US Marine Corps, who had a job as a pilot with civil airlines after the war. His mother Margaret was born in Georgia around 1920. Hazelwood was the firstborn son of the family. He has a brother, Matthew, and two other siblings. Hazelwood married Suzanne in 1969 and their daughter Alison was born around 1976.

Hazelwood graduated from Huntington High School. There it was found in an IQ test that his intelligence quotient is 138. As a teenager he was an avid sailor and member of the Sea Scouts .

In May 1968 he graduated from New York Maritime College with a bachelor's degree in marine transportation science. At the age of 32, he took command of the Exxon Philadelphia in 1978 as the youngest skipper of the Exxon fleet.

Professional background

After graduating from college, he started his career on June 10, 1968 as the third mate at Humble Oil and Refining Company (later the Exxon Shipping Company). His first ship was the Esso Florence (home port Wilmington, North Carolina). Hazelwood rose quickly and received his captaincy license in 1977 at the age of 31 . The following year he was given command of the Exxon Philadelphia, an oil tanker on the California – Alaska route, making him the youngest captain of the Exxon fleet.

In 1985, he rescued the Exxon Chester, an asphalt transport ship, when a strong storm broke the tanker's mast while sailing from New York to South Carolina. The ship also lost the radar and the radio antennas that were attached to the mast. The crew were preparing to leave the ship when Hazelwood talked to them and convinced them to do everything possible to save the ship. This also succeeded. When the Exxon Valdez was under his command in 1987 (still as a change captain ) and 1988 , he and the ship received an in-house safety and performance award.

Alcohol problem

Hazelwood was an alcoholic at the time . New York State had withdrawn his driving license three times since 1984 for alcohol offenses. At the time of the Exxon-Valdez accident, after an inspection on September 13, 1988, he was not in possession of a driver's license because he had been driving while drunk.

Despite participating in rehab in 1985 at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville , New York, he was continuously monitored, unsuccessfully, on the matter by Exxon thereafter . After rehab, he was given leave and asked to meet with Alcoholics Anonymous for 90 days . However, it is unknown whether he obeyed this request.

Accident of the Exxon Valdez

The 42-year-old Joseph Hazelwood was sleeping in his bunk at the time of the accident . Radio communications with the Coast Guard shortly after the landfall confirm that Hazelwood was under the influence of alcohol. Coast Guard investigators who boarded the Exxon Valdez hours after the disaster noticed a strong smell of alcohol on Hazelwood.

Captain Hazelwood was arrested and placed on bail of $ 500,000, which was later reduced to $ 25,000. He was acquitted of all charges in court because no criminal behavior could be proven. He was fined $ 50,000 for illegally draining oil and was given back his captaincy license, which was banned for the next 9 months. He could no longer find work on a ship and eventually became an expert on a marine insurance company.

In popular culture

In the feature film Waterworld , which takes place in an unknown future in a flooded world, Joseph Hazelwood is revered as a mythical figure by a gang of criminals.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David Hulen: Captain's record shows 3 alcohol arrests . In: The Anchorage Daily News , March 28, 1989. Archived from the original on November 7, 2011. 
2. ↑ Don Hunter: Alcohol stains record of skilled sea captain . In: The Anchorage Daily News , January 29, 1990. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012.