The reef is a major hazard to shipping as it is on the western boundary of a major north/south shipping route between the Cornish coast and the Isles of Scilly.
On 18 March 1967 the world's first major oil pollution incident occurred when a supertanker, the Torrey Canyon hit the Pollard's Rock, tearing a gash in her side and spilling 860,000 barrels of oil into the sea.