Exxon Valdez was the tanker responsible for the 1989 oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
The ship ran aground on Bligh Reef on 24 March 1989 while carrying crude oil from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System toward California. The grounding released an estimated 11 million U.S. gallons of crude into the sound and surrounding coastal waters, making it one of the most consequential environmental disasters in U.S. history.
The spill affected shorelines, seabirds, marine mammals, fisheries, and local communities. Cleanup operations continued for years, and some oil remained in parts of the environment much longer. The tanker was later renamed and rebuilt, eventually sailing under the name SeaRiver Mediterranean.
Exxon Valdez is often mixed up with other major tanker disasters. Amoco Cadiz grounded off France in 1978, Torrey Canyon grounded near the Isles of Scilly in 1967, and Prestige sank off Spain in 2002.