Aerial view of oil washing ashore at an inlet after the Amoco Cadiz spill, Brittany, France, 1978. The Amoco Cadiz was a very large crude carrier that ran aground on Portsall Rocks, 5 km (3.1 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France, split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date. Between 223,000 - 227,000 tons of oil were released.