Court Trial Footage of Exxon Valdez Tanker Captain Joe Hazelwood Part 2 (ASL-AV25-33-2) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:11and said that
2. 0:13he was going to of course 200
3. 0:2012 knots and entering the southbound
4. 0:23lane
5. 0:26in order to avoid ice which was
6. 0:30presumably in the northbound lane
7. 0:34or excuse me he was going into the
8. 0:35northbound lane to avoid
9. 0:37ice because there was ice across
10. 0:42the southbound lane and separation zone
11. 0:44and that he would call
12. 0:47with a new eta for naked island once he
13. 0:50was clear of the ice
14. 0:54he also informed me of the two inbound
15. 0:57hustles we had at the time did you take
16. 1:00a look at the radar
17. 1:02that evening when you got on to see if
18. 1:04you could see that
19. 1:06yes according mr taylor
20. 1:10he said that he had lost
21. 1:14contact with the exxon valdez
22. 1:18on the radar would you explain what you
23. 1:21mean by that so the jury would
24. 1:22understand
25. 1:23what you understood that to me i
26. 1:25understood that to mean
27. 1:27that the weather conditions and or
28. 1:34some kind of equipment problems or
29. 1:36whatever was affecting the situation at
30. 1:38the time
31. 1:39probably mostly weather conditions
32. 1:42for that reason his own no longer be
33. 1:44able to make contact
34. 1:47with the vessel on radar
35. 1:51did you look to see if yes i did i like
36. 1:54this scope and
37. 1:56we weren't picking anything up what did
38. 1:58you do then after that
39. 2:03um
40. 2:06in terms of well of the watch relief
41. 2:09yeah
42. 2:13i believe mr taylor after we completed
43. 2:17the watch relief he gave me the
44. 2:19situation on the ice and he mentioned
45. 2:22that the
46. 2:23the arco juno had gone out a few hours
47. 2:25before that
48. 2:27and they had done this
49. 2:30the same
50. 2:33basically the same maneuver that the
51. 2:37that he told me that the exxon valdez
52. 2:39was
53. 2:41currently conducting and that they had
54. 2:44gone through there with no problem
55. 2:48uh then we discussed
56. 2:52what the ice was and
57. 2:55uh various aspects of the relief if
58. 3:00whether or not any of the equipment was
59. 3:01down which at that time it was there we
60. 3:04had some communication sites
61. 3:06inoperative i believe it was kate
62. 3:08pensionbrook
63. 3:11uh possibly naked island
64. 3:14vhf sites were inoperative
65. 3:17then about 2345
66. 3:21he left
67. 3:24what did you do after he left
68. 3:29best i recall i
69. 3:33set the uh various
70. 3:36pieces of paper that we keep keep the
71. 3:40watch going on
72. 3:42set up in the way that i i like to set
73. 3:44them up so i know where everybody is
74. 3:46where they're going to be
75. 3:47and i got it all pretty well straight in
76. 3:49my mind
77. 3:50as to what was happening
78. 3:56and after i had satisfied myself that i
79. 3:59was
80. 4:00familiar enough what was going on
81. 4:04i went downstairs to get a cup of coffee
82. 4:09and i came back up and checked the with
83. 4:14the weather
84. 4:15service was right next door to our
85. 4:17traffic center
86. 4:19to see what the current weather
87. 4:21conditions
88. 4:22were like and what the forecast was
89. 4:25and then i went back into the traffic
90. 4:27center i'm not sure having
91. 4:29what time i arrived back in there
92. 4:31probably took me a total of five minutes
93. 4:33to
94. 4:35to do that get coffee and come back in
95. 4:40what did you do then next
96. 4:44um well i'm sure i've just
97. 4:48sat there for a few minutes um
98. 4:53and then at right at midnight i started
99. 4:57my
100. 4:58midnight chore routine
101. 5:02would you explain to the jury what that
102. 5:04that is okay we have to
103. 5:07first of all the 24 hour tape recorder
104. 5:10that we use
105. 5:12a 40 channel tape recorder has to be
106. 5:15changed the tape has to be changed at
107. 5:17midnight
108. 5:19the old one rewound or the one that has
109. 5:22just finished recording it has to be
110. 5:23rewound
111. 5:25filed away the heads have to be cleaned
112. 5:28on the on the machine you have to pull
113. 5:32on
114. 5:32a used tape that's
115. 5:36a month old off the shelf
116. 5:39and you see an eraser on it bulk tape
117. 5:41eraser erase that
118. 5:43and install it on the reel
119. 5:46that is you've just removed the
120. 5:51present days or the previous day's tape
121. 5:54from
122. 5:55and at midnight the other reel starts
123. 5:58recording
124. 5:59automatically so you don't miss anything
125. 6:03one stops the other one starts
126. 6:07this 24-hour clock is this inaccurate
127. 6:09yes it is
128. 6:13we take a time tick with wwv every day
129. 6:16and
130. 6:17compare it and if it's more than
131. 6:21two three seconds off we make sure it's
132. 6:24correct
133. 6:28did you receive any phone uh any radio
134. 6:31communications then after you
135. 6:33during that time any radio
136. 6:37no no whatsoever when would when did you
137. 6:40get your first communication
138. 6:45as far as far as uh receiving any
139. 6:48communications
140. 6:49while i was gone uh if i had not been
141. 6:53there to take a radio call
142. 6:55the radioman would have answered it for
143. 6:58me
144. 6:59well he remained in the room when you
145. 7:00went to get a couple yes yes
146. 7:02he did and if there were
147. 7:05something that he couldn't handle or
148. 7:08something was pretty important
149. 7:09we have a system where he could get me
150. 7:12back up there right away
151. 7:15within 30 seconds did he
152. 7:18did he inform you of anything when you
153. 7:20came back up to the i asked him when i
154. 7:22came back if i'd had any calls he said
155. 7:23no
156. 7:27now when was when was the first radio
157. 7:31transmission that you actually received
158. 7:33while you were on duty then
159. 7:36i believe it was a minute 17
160. 7:40uh i got a call from i believe was the
161. 7:42chevron california
162. 7:44who was inbound at hintonbrook
163. 7:48did you receive a call from the exxon
164. 7:51valdez shortly thereafter
165. 7:53yes it did what time was that
166. 7:57uh i have it logged in the
167. 8:00in the station log as being minute028
168. 8:07that time was in fact when i finished
169. 8:10talking to him looked up and recorded
170. 8:12the time
171. 8:13but when he he initially called
172. 8:16according to the time that's recorded on
173. 8:18the tape
174. 8:20it was 0.0026
175. 8:23and so many seconds when you say zero
176. 8:26zero two six
177. 8:27for people that aren't familiar with the
178. 8:2924 hour time what does that mean
179. 8:31uh 26 after midnight
180. 8:34now who called you the exxon valdez
181. 8:40and when he called you
182. 8:44what did he say he said that he was hard
183. 8:47of ground
184. 8:49on blair reef and that he was leaking
185. 8:53oil
186. 8:55and that he would
187. 8:59and he
188. 9:03he slowed down a minute
189. 9:07he said he was hard of ground on blair
190. 9:09reef
191. 9:11and he gave me a position uh
192. 9:15north of goose island which i didn't
193. 9:18really
194. 9:20i didn't really comprehend where
195. 9:24would you get that pointer there and and
196. 9:26show
197. 9:27the jury where goose island is do you
198. 9:29have uh
199. 9:31you have a 708 chart
200. 9:34that's what's kind of small
201. 10:02so
202. 10:06how about that that's better
203. 10:13okay this is goo salad right here
204. 10:18and this is my reef up here
205. 10:22it's about
206. 10:25eight to ten miles away
207. 10:29but anyway
208. 10:32if you want me to continue well tell me
209. 10:35as best you remember and if you need to
210. 10:37refresh your recollection tell me but
211. 10:39especially remember what did
212. 10:40uh the person from the exxon valdez
213. 10:43tell you okay that he was
214. 10:47he was hard of ground north of
215. 10:52loose island on blair reef
216. 10:59uh and that he was
217. 11:02leaking some oil and that
218. 11:06this was um
219. 11:12she's just reporting that now when you
220. 11:15heard where he told you he was where did
221. 11:18you think that was
222. 11:19well i had i had a little bit of
223. 11:21difficulty because
224. 11:23because of the of the
225. 11:26differences in position was he down here
226. 11:30by goose island or was he up here by
227. 11:31blue
228. 11:32pair reef
229. 11:36so after that
230. 11:41i shifted my radars uh to try to see if
231. 11:45i could find them anywhere
232. 11:47and uh of course i can't see anything
233. 11:51uh down here by goose island
234. 11:55it's in the shadow all you can see is
235. 11:58uh through this
236. 12:03be like a v-shaped area
237. 12:06going straight down the arm anything
238. 12:09that's behind
239. 12:10this island here i wouldn't be able to
240. 12:12see
241. 12:14but i noticed a
242. 12:17target up in this area
243. 12:21that was way out of the traffic lanes
244. 12:25and approximately 90 degrees to the
245. 12:28radar
246. 12:31now what had the radar been on
247. 12:34before you when you looked at it first
248. 12:37okay
249. 12:38when i came in and really mr taylor
250. 12:43and the radar was on the six mile scale
251. 12:45offset to 10 miles
252. 12:49did you change it yes it did
253. 12:52when did that happen at midnight okay
254. 12:54and what did you
255. 12:55what did you change it to i changed to
256. 12:57three mile scale
257. 12:59to take the varying range of mid of
258. 13:02middle rock for the
259. 13:06midnight calibration of raid of the
260. 13:08radar is that something that you go
261. 13:10through every
262. 13:11evening on your ship right it comes
263. 13:13right after changing the tapes
264. 13:16and did you when did you change the
265. 13:18radar after that
266. 13:20uh when he called and what did you
267. 13:23change it to
268. 13:2412 mile scale and
269. 13:28were you getting a solid fix or was it
270. 13:30intermittent
271. 13:32at that time uh it was
272. 13:36pretty solid and when you say it was
273. 13:40uh would you again describe the position
274. 13:44of how the ship was laying at that time
275. 13:46okay it was this aspect of the ship was
276. 13:49broadside to the radar or 90 degrees
277. 13:52maybe if you could use that marker there
278. 13:54right in front of you
279. 13:56right in front of you okay and on the
280. 13:58map
281. 13:59or on the chart excuse me would you
282. 14:01point out
283. 14:02how to the jury how the tanker was
284. 14:04sitting
285. 14:06it appeared to be sitting
286. 14:09about like this
287. 14:14and in your experience as a radar person
288. 14:16is it easier to pick up a tanker when
289. 14:19it's sitting broadside to the radar or
290. 14:21when it's sitting lengthwise
291. 14:22certainly when it's broadside why is
292. 14:24that because you have more target area
293. 14:32after you pick this up
294. 14:37well after the captain or the person
295. 14:40told you that they were a ground
296. 14:44north of goose island
297. 14:51did you respond immediately to him well
298. 14:54it took me it seemed like forever
299. 14:58but it took like maybe a minute
300. 15:02for me to figure out what's going on and
301. 15:05i asked him
302. 15:06after i saw this contact here which is
303. 15:09not normally
304. 15:11there i asked him are you
305. 15:14about a mile north of of la reef
306. 15:19and he said yes and when you say a mile
307. 15:22north of fly reef
308. 15:24you point out to the jury where you you
309. 15:27were talking about
310. 15:29okay this is the reef itself is right
311. 15:31here
312. 15:32the ship was right here and the buoy is
313. 15:36right here
314. 15:36off to the west of the western edge of
315. 15:39the brief
316. 15:46what went through your mind when you
317. 15:47heard this report
318. 15:50your honor to object i think it's
319. 15:52irrelevant
320. 15:55it goes to his observations and how he
321. 15:58acted after that
322. 15:59i wanted to end the protection
323. 16:03what went through your mind
324. 16:07well i don't exactly recall but
325. 16:10i did a pretty hard swallow and uh
326. 16:15uh i don't know i guess the old uh
327. 16:22fight or fight uh
328. 16:25uh instinct took in and uh
329. 16:29the adrenaline started pumping and we
330. 16:32really
331. 16:34went to
332. 16:38general quarters
333. 16:41what did you uh
334. 16:44what did you do then after that i
335. 16:46immediately called commanding officer
336. 16:49and who would that have been at that
337. 16:50time commander mccall
338. 16:52and what did you tell them
339. 16:57uh that the this was the big one
340. 17:00exxon valdez was on the rocks and
341. 17:03leaking oil
342. 17:04okay and who did you call after that
343. 17:07lieutenant commander falkenstein
344. 17:10and basically told him the same thing
345. 17:13and they said that both said
346. 17:14they'd be right there and they were
347. 17:18about
348. 17:22oh i would say no longer than five
349. 17:24minutes after they were on the station
350. 17:28now did you ask
351. 17:32the exxon valdez for a weather report
352. 17:35uh yes i did why did you do that
353. 17:39mostly for the
354. 17:42to be able to give the weather to
355. 17:47any assisting resources and or to
356. 17:50be able to judge what kind of resources
357. 17:52to send
358. 17:54to assist the tanker did you
359. 18:02when commander mccall arrived what
360. 18:05happened
361. 18:06uh when he arrived he immediately
362. 18:10called the ship and communicated with
363. 18:12the master
364. 18:16i just handed him the radio and
365. 18:19he would you describe for the jury what
366. 18:22you did for the rest of that morning
367. 18:25uh well it became pretty much a
368. 18:28uh if you will a search and rescue case
369. 18:32at one
370. 18:32at the initial phase uh
371. 18:36trying to coordinate getting assistance
372. 18:40out to the tanker
373. 18:43there are various arrangements that had
374. 18:45to be made
375. 18:46to try to line up the appropriate size
376. 18:49hoses to lighter the fuel off
377. 18:53or excuse me the cargo off the remaining
378. 18:57cargo
379. 18:58and
380. 19:01the it could have been more than an
381. 19:04hour after the grounding that
382. 19:10phones just literally started ringing
383. 19:11off the wall
384. 19:13um and we only had a very small watch
385. 19:17section which is normal
386. 19:19and it got to be pretty much the handle
387. 19:22how
388. 19:23how long did you work that morning uh
389. 19:26i stayed until eight which was my
390. 19:28regular
391. 19:30uh in the shift and then i stayed for an
392. 19:32additional four hours to help out with
393. 19:34the
394. 19:36with all the additional volumes of
395. 19:39traffic that were coming in
396. 19:42mr cole this be a good time to take a
397. 19:43break sure
398. 19:47here are my instructions
399. 20:09you