GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A pilot of one of two vessels that collided in the Houston Ship Channel earlier this year, spilling nearly 170,000 gallons of oil in the Houston Ship Channel, said Monday visibility was restricted by fog but his tugboat’s lights were on and conditions weren’t especially treacherous when he turned over the ship’s wheel to his captain shortly before the accident.

“If it were to get more restricted, I would have turned on the fog whistle,” Capt. Joseph Downs, testifying at a Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the March 22 collision, said.