At 9 p.m. on the night of 23 March 1989, the Exxon Valdez began to sail south from Valdez in Alaska. There was ice in the sea, so the caption told the sailors to sail to one side. He told them to sail straight on in the usual way when they were past the ice. But, for some reason, they didn’t do this, and just after midnight the Exxon Valdez hit Blight Reef.