It is not often that a drama of the sea provides the main story in the news, and it is still more unusual for such an occurrence to continue to occupy the headlines; but the Torrey Canyon disaster was unique in having done this for a whole month and more. Day after day, there was a slow and inexorable increase in the area affected by the catastrophe and in its duration: while such protective measures as could be improvised could seldom do more than repair damage that it was impossible to prevent.