RAF jets drop bombs and aviation fuel in an attempt to burn off shorebound crude oil.

Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his Government with Roy Jenkins as Home Secretary took the decision to bomb the oil slicks from the Supertanker SS Torrey Canyon. Blackburn buccaneers from RNAS Lossiemouth and Hawker Hunter jets from 54 Squadron RAF West Lynham, 234 Squadron RAF Chivenor and RAF St Mawgan dumped bombs and aviation fuel over three days but the operation failed to ignite the oil sufficiently. The oil slicks drifted towards France and the UK.

The Torrey Canyon ran aground on Seven Stones Reef fifteen miles west of the Cornish coast and ten miles from the Isles of Scilly within the contiguous zone but there were fears of acting outside of British territorial waters. The aims were to limit pollution and safeguard the summer tourist season so South West MPs including John Nott met Housing and Local Government Minister Tony Greenwood. The disaster had consequences for the international law of the sea with regulations to ensure corporate responsibility for salvage and clean up operations, tighter regulation of shipping and the right of a country to intervene outside of its territorial waters if it is threatened by an environmental disaster.