Hubris means extreme haughtiness or arrogance. Hubris often indicates being out of touch with reality and overestimating one's own competence or capabilities, especially for people in positions of power. (Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
In 1871 the New Bedford whaling fleet entered the Arctic Ocean in pursuit of the bowhead whale. This was the first large-scale commercial shipping operation to take place in the Arctic and was to end in disaster. That year 33 of the fleet's 40 ships became trapped in the ice and eventually were crushed and sunk. When queried about the cause of such a catastrophic event, the owners cried that this was the result of "a once in a hundred, winter ice year." Five years later the remainder of the New Bedford fleet again became trapped and were sunk by an early ice year. This time the event broke the back of the U.S. Arctic whaling fleet.
In retrospect, if one takes the time to examine this calamitous event, it is reasonable to conclude it wasn't the "once in a hundred, winter ice year" that sunk this commercial venture. It was the hubris of a handful of men who overestimated their own competence in the pursuit of their quarry.
In the year 1912 Capt. Edward Smith sank the "unsinkable ship." Today it is a subject of debate that one of the contributing factors to this tragedy was that Capt. Smith was under instructions to maintain full sea speed in order to make an early landfall in New York. The subsequent investigation into the sinking shows that the ship was traveling at 22 knots when it struck the iceberg. The record also shows that reports of ice were ignored by the officers on the bridge of the Titanic.
So the question is: hubris or the iceberg? Which one sank the "unsinkable" ship and sent over 1,500 souls to a watery grave? You decide.
Then there was the Exxon Valdez. And what measure of hubris contributed to the grounding of that infamous ship?
And now we have an event happening in the Gulf of Mexico that we were assured by the oil industry would never happen. Hubris?
In summer 2011 Shell Oil hopes to commence exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic. This will be the second time in our history that a large scale commercial shipping operation will enter the U.S. Arctic in pursuit of wealth. There is no small irony here that the same prize that was pursued in 1871 is again the target of our continuing folly, which is satisfying our insatiable appetite for oil. As these new operations commence the question to ponder is this: What is the greater threat to the Arctic, the driller's bit or the hubris of a handful of powerful men who control it?
The fate of the Arctic Ocean should not be left to the harmful effects of this unfortunate human characteristic. A mishap today in the Arctic has the potential to leave more than just the wooden wreckage of a few dozen whaling ships scattered about the Arctic's seafloor.
If there is to be a path forward with respect to offshore energy development in the Arctic it would be wise not only for Shell but for all oil companies attempting to engage this challenging environment to temper their path with the prudent and more productive human quality of humility.
Capt. Peter Garay has spent the last 20 years of his career working in the remote waters of Western Alaska as a state-licensed marine pilot.
By PETER GARAY