The day-to-day dissection of the events leading to the break-up and sinking of the Arrow does not intend to assign blame to any group or individual involved in this calamity. Instead this section will illustrate how those involved in the attempted recovery of the tanker and its cargo had to overcome obstacles caused by the lack of regulations and expertise in dealing with a large oil spill in Canadian waters. Neither the ship's owners, Imperial Oil government, nor scientists had dealt with such a large complicated spill of Bunker ' C ' oil in cold February waters. This was a daunting task. As a result, lack of declared responsibility by the ship's owners, Imperial Oil or the government, there were a number of problems created that delayed recovery. The oil continually seeped into the waters and washed along the coast of Chedabucto Bay.