Torrey canyon

I stand on the beach and almost weep as I watch birds struggle for their last gasp of breath, their little wings and chests covered in thick oil, their lives now at the mercy of the black tides. Men are everywhere cleaning up oil off the beach in Newlyn, soldiers help to clear away a mess that blots the Cornish county. I of course am talking of the aftermath of the oil spill, that was the result of the Torrey canyon oil tanker. The huge tanker went aground on the seven stones reef just off Lands end in 1967. I recently read a book that half way through as a little boys account of what happend back in 1967 with regards to this nightmare, it covers the destruction of the ship which was ordered by the primeminister of the day Harold Wilson. He ordered it to be bombed by the RAF, and the book go's on to report what happened next with regards to many beaches, Not just Cornish ones but France to name but one.