NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : Hazelwood’s Orders Described as Correct

The Exxon captain who replaced Joseph Hazelwood on the grounded Exxon Valdez testified in Anchorage that the tanker should have missed Bligh Reef based on the skipper’s turn commands. Capt. William Deppe said that, unlike Hazelwood, he would have stayed on the bridge during maneuvers around icebergs. Hazelwood left the bridge to the third mate’s command before the supertanker hit the reef and spewed about 11 million gallons of crude oil. But Deppe refused prosecution invitations to fault Hazelwood’s other actions before and after the March 24 accident. Hazelwood is on trial in Alaska Superior Court on three misdemeanor counts and a felony charge. Deppe further testified that Hazelwood’s orders to run the engines forward, once the tanker was grounded, may have saved the ship from sliding off the reef.