Spill closes S.F. beaches; oil washes up on Marin Headlands – San Francisco Chronicle (11/8/07):

Until 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard said only 140 gallons had spilled from the vessel. That estimate came from the ship’s owners, Uberti said, and the Coast Guard realized later after checking the bay that the magnitude was far greater.

Hmm, a 65,131-ton, 810-foot-long container ship runs into a bridge, and the owners – who theoretically know something about container ships – estimated the oil spill at 140 gallons. Tractor trailer trucks typically carry only twice that in their tanks, so clearly this number was low-balled. How much fuel was actually spilled in the crash?

Heavy-duty bunker fuel oil from the 58,000 gallons that spilled from a container ship when it rammed the Bay Bridge has washed up on several San Francisco beaches and the Marin Headlands, officials said today.

They only missed it by a factor of 414.