b'T ar on the beach was a way of life for more than twenty years in the Coastalphin made beloved and famous by Flipper, began to be found washed up on the beach Bend, following the blowout of the Ixtoc I, an experimental well drilled bydead, covered in Pemex crude oil.Pemex, the Mexican state oil company, in the Bay of Campeche in the south- I managed to save a few of them, recalls Amos in my 2005 interview. It was at west corner of the Gulf of Mexico. From June 1979 to March 1980, the wellthis point in Tonys distinguished career that his mission expanded from one of scientific spewed from 30,000 barrels (1,260,000 gallons) of crude oil per day, soonobservation and theory, to one of very active field participationfollowed by short term after the blowout, to 10,000 barrels per day before it was finally capped.veterinary care, rehabilitation, and even long-term, lifetime care for animals Tony had Tony Amos took to the ocean within days of the spill to observe and document thestarted to rescue. This was a mission beyond science. It should have been irrational to a oil on its clockwise journey around the gulf, driven by the mighty Gulfstream currents,scientific mind like Tonys. In a way, maybe he did not really know what motivated this and headed into the geologically formed catch-all known as the Coastal Bend of Texas.very caring vein inside himbecause there was little scientific significance to taking on At that time the biggest story about the Campeche Oil Spill was the inconvenience ofthe Herculean effort to save injured and distressed animals in need, one by one, in this tar on the beach to the vacationing public, and its economic impact on tourism along thelittle corner of the world. But if you know a little about how Tony Amos grew up, you Gulf Coast. After a month or so the story expanded to commercial fishermen and howmight conclude that his motive was one more of the heart than of the mind.their catches were being ruined by the oil, and then to offshore charter guides, and then toTony Amos was but three years old when the Germans began bombing his home-inshore guides and the public fishing in the surf and from piers. town of London during World War II, known simply as The Blitz. Thousand of fami-Sadly, of last concern to the public and news media was the impact of the oil onlies like the Amos fled London to the English countryside to escape nightly raids by the shore birds and marine life, until seagulls and pelicans were found covered in oil or deadLuftwaffe, which affected every area of London, and in which 43,000 British civilians from its ingestion. Then sea turtles and marine mammals, especially the Bottlenose Dol- died over eight months in what was intended as the prelude to an all-out invasion of Britain by the Nazis. It was in the village of Oak-ford where the child Tony became fascinated with birds, as he first experienced the natural world of forests, streams and wildlife. When it was finally safe to go home to London, four-year-old Tony was most concerned that the Nut Hatchers had enough to eathis mother obliged and left them a loaf of bread.I managed to save a few of them. It was at this point in Tonys distinguished career that his mission expanded from one of scientific obser-vationto one of very active field participation. This was a mission beyond science.Tonys mother died when he was seventeen and he was given the choice of attending a formal university in England, or accompanying his father to Ber-muda where he had accepted a job working for a firm whose mission was to develop flat screen color televisionin 1954. Tony chose Bermuda, and with it, his destinies in life. He took an apprentice job at the electronics firm where his father worked, and he became introduced to the ocean and life on a remote island. Above all, he met his mate of what would be sixty years, Lynn, and to-gether they moved to Philadelphia and then to New York, working together first at Columbia and then UTMSI in Port A.Upper: The Ixtoc I experimental well, owned by Pemex, the state oil company of Mexico, exploded in June 1979 and spewed over 200 million gallons of crude into the Bay of Campeche, in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Mexico, much of which emerged as tar on Texas beaches for over two decades. Lower: Tony Amos photographed rescuing a Green turtle injured by a boat prop and trapped in the rocks of the Port Aransas south jetty.TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEJanuary/February 2018 51TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFEATURED: The Stories that Mattered 57'