JURORS HEAR KEY SPILL TAPE
STATE: TAPE SHOWS RECKLESSNESS

By DON HUNTER
Daily News reporter

ANCHORAGE- State prosecutors on Thursday played a tape recorded conversation of Capt. Joseph Hazelwood apparently describing attempts to drive the grounded Exxon Valdez off Bligh Reef, a maneuver that could have caused the vessel to rool over and sink."We've, ah, the vessel's been holed and, ah, we're ascertaining, right now we're trying to just to get her off the reef and, ah, we'll get back to you as soon as we can," Hazelwood says in one transmission.

The tape is a linchpin in the state's attempts to prove that Hazelwood acted recklessly and without regard for the safety of his ship or his crew on the night the Valdez slammed into a well marked reef.

In it, Hazelwood says at least four times he is trying to free the ship from the reef, but his defense attorneys claim he was trying to do just the opposite. They say Hazelwood ordered the tanker's engines started and issued a series of rudder orders to hold the Exxon Valdez on the reef, where it would be safer.

The tape played for jurors Thursday was recorded from the original taken at the U.S. Coast Guard traffic control center. The Coast Guard routinely monitors tanker traffic in Prince William Sound and communicates with ships by radio. The tape recorded conversations between the traffic center and the Exxon Valdez both before and after the grounding, which occurred just after midnight, early on the morning of March 24.

After Hazelwood reported the grounding, Cmdr. Steve McCall of the Coast Guard reported to the traffic control center and called to ask if the tanker captain by then had a better estimate of the ship's condition.

Hazelwood responded:

"Ah, not at the present, ah, Steve. Joe Hazelwood here . . . or ah, a little problem here with the third mate but, ah, we are working our way off the reef. We've, ah, the vessel's been holed and, ah, we're ascertaining right now we're trying to just to get her off the reef and, ah, we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Over."

McCall answers, telling Hazelwood the Coast Guard is preparing to send assistance and cautioning him to be careful. "Ah, you know take it slow and easy, and you know I'm telling you the obvious, but take it slow and easy and we're getting help out as fast as we can." McCall asks if the vessel is stable.

"OK," Hazelwood says. "We're, ah, pretty good shape right now stability wise. We're, ah, just trying to extract her off the, ah, shoal here, and, ah, you can probably see me on your radar and, ah, once we get underway, I'll let you know. Do another, ah, damage control assessment. Over."

"Roger," McCall responds. "Yeah. And let me know again, before you make any drastic attempt to get underway, you make sure you don't start doing any ripping. You got a rising tide. You got about another about an hour and a half worth of tide in your favor. Once you hit that max, I wouldn't recommend doing much wiggling. Over."

"OK," Hazelwood says. "Yeah, I think it's, ah, major damage is kinda been done. We kinda rock and rolled over it, and, ah, we're just kinda hung up in the stern here. We're just, ah, we'll drift over it. I'll get back to ya. We'll be standing by thirteen sixteen. Exxon Valdez clear."

Hazelwood's voice on the tape recording is deep, almost guttural at times, and his speech is interrupted with pauses. Defense attorneys laid groundwork since the trial began to prepare jurors for the tone and tenor of the captain's voice.

In crossexamining Exxon Valdez crew members, defense attorneys asked if they had noticed anything unusual about Hazelwood's speech the night of the grounding. They asked if the captain had been speaking in his customary, "slow, deliberate" fashion on that night.

Every crew member said Hazelwood's speech was normal.

Playing the tape occupied a few minutes of a day dominated by the testimony of James Kunkel, the chief mate on the Valdez. Kunkel, like his shipmates, provided a little ammunition for each side of the Hazelwood case.

The chief mate said he believed Helmsman Robert Kagan capable of executing simple rudder orders but needed practice at slightly more complicated tasks: bringing the ship on line to a new compass heading, for example. Kunkel said he had told Hazelwood Kagan needed practice at steering.

Kunkel had sailed with Kagan for about a month in 1985. In a 1985 job evaluation, Kunkel wrote that Kagan needed "extra supervision," a phrase he underlined twice. Thursday, Kunkel said he was referring to Kagan's ability to perform routine shipboard chores.

"If I told him to go paint a bulkhead, normally you can send a sailor to go paint. Mr. Kagan, I'd have to make sure he used the right paint, that he was applying it properly using the right brush, etc.," Kunkel said.

Kunkel, the highest ranking officer on the ship after Hazelwood, had been up for much of the 24 hours before the tanker left Valdez supervising the loading of crude oil. He was roused by Third Mate Gregory Cousins after the grounding and made a brief trip to the bridge, then went below to check on the cargo.

Kunkel said it was obvious immediately that the tanker was losing oil. A check of oil and ballast holds showed the Valdez was holed in every starboard and center tank, and perhaps in a forward tank at the peak of the bow, he said.

The 11 million gallon spill fouled hundreds of miles of coastline and killed thousands of birds and sea mammals. Hazelwood, the only person criminally charged in the spill, is charged with criminal mischief, a felony, and three misdemeanors, including operation a vessel under the influence of alcohol and reckless endangerment.

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