Knowing the size and tonnage of the ship can tell me how much more oil could conceivably be spilled, if their emergency measures don't work. You gotta look at the whole picture.
Who cares how much oil could be spilled? There were human lives at risk, which is why there was a spill in the first place. The Croat Captain was in an a real bind: If he failed to render any and all assistance possible in the effort to preserve lives, he would have lost his license, and also had to live with the knowledge that he could have tried to save the other crew, and didn't.
In opposition to that, the new belief that the accidental spillage of oil is more important than human lives has prompted to make the accidental spillage of oil a criminal act, according to some nations. In which case the Captain could also lose his license.
Some dilemma!
BTB, the fact that a *Very* small portion of his cargo was lost, and that those losses were minimized through rapid action on the part of the crew... well, it speaks well of the captain.
How much oil in the water do you trade for one human life saved? Would that figure change if one of the sailors on the imperiled ship was your father?