Exxon Valez was the original name (later Sea River Mediterranean and eventually Mediterranean) of an oil tanker owned by the former Exxon Corporation. It gained widespread infamy after the March 24, 1989 oil spill in which the tanker, bound for Washington, USA, captained by Joseph Hazelwood, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled an estimated 10.8 million US gallons (38 megalitres) of crude oil. This has been recorded as one of the largest spills in U.S. history and one of the largest ecological disasters.