An oil-spill by the ocean cruise liner Statendam, in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda, on 2 August 1976, was pursued in the courts, the Captain of the ship being prosecuted successfully because of strong circumstantial evidence—including chemical analysis by gas chromatography which matched the ship's fuel-oil with a sample taken from the harbour immediately after the spill.The conviction was upheld on appeal. The Chief Justice's decision set a strong precedent for absolute liability when oil is discharged in contaminated ballast.A similar case of a spill off the Florida Keys, by the M. V. Garbis in 1975, was identified by gas chromatography and other chemical methods, but did not result in conviction because of lack of jurisdiction over the waters in which the spill occurred. The Statendam case appears to be the first in which chemical analysis played an important role in establishing a conviction for oil pollution.
Physico Chemical Analysis of Soil: A Case Study of Takoli Gad Watershed, Garhwal Himalaya