On 18th 1967,supertanker SS Torrey Canyon ran aground on Pollard’s Rock in the Seven Stones reef between Cornwall and the Scilly Isles.

Grounding caused the entire hull of the vessel to split into pieces,spilling more than 100000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea.

The developments in the aftermath were catastrophic,unprecedented and beyond control.

Spillage spread over an area of some 1,800 square kilometers(about 700 square miles) and affected roughly 320 kilometers of coastline.Knee-deep sludges covered the shorelines.

Thousands of sea birds,aquatic plants & animals perished.Spillage wreaked havoc on the ecosystem over a vast sea area which took many years to recover.World witnessed with utter shock an epic maritime disaster that had devastating impact on environment never seen before.

Catastrophic incident of Torrey Canyon laid the foundation stone for International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships,commonly known as MARPOL 73/78.

MARPOL convention  was adopted on 2nd Nov,1973.It was further modified by a protocol in 1978,in response to a string of tanker accidents in 1976-1977.It entered into force on 2nd October,1983.