The public, politicians and the shipping industry are left counting the cost of one of the worst ever crude oil disasters.

The worst oil disaster to affect the UK and particularly Cornish shores was when on 18 March 1967 the Liberian-registered British Petroleum chartered supertanker the Torrey Canyon hit Pollard's Rock on Seven Stones Reef between Land's Ends and the Isles of Scilly. The tanker began to break up discharging its cargo of nearly forty million gallons of Kuwaiti crude oil. Harold Wilson's government took decisions to set fire to the oil slicks and use dispersants.

In both environmental and international law terms the SS Torrey Canyon disaster was a game-changer. New maritime laws made ship owners and multinational companies responsible for clean up operations and for ensuring adequate compensation in rebuilding affected areas. New environmental laws restricted the use of chemicals in clean up operations and more was done to protect areas of outstanding natural beauty and wildlife. Tighter regulation to ensure safety at sea and onboard ships was introduced to all shipping. A type of lighthouse on a ship, a lightvessel is now permanently stationed at Seven Stones Reef and doubles as a weather station.