Florida Maritime Accident Lawyer
10 Mistakes Frank Rich Made in his Hit Piece about Clarence Thomas
Category: Supreme Court Rulings
Frank Rich's supporters express pride that he gets his facts straight. Well, his fact checking record took a hit with his recent hit piece on the autobiography of Clarence Thomas. Here are the Top 10:
10. "He [Justice Thomas]" still denies that he is the beneficiary of the very race-based preferences he deplores."
No. Not correct. Thomas repeatedly states that his acceptance by both Harvard and Yale was affected by his race, and that he wishes he had not indicated race on his application, and been judged solely solely by the quality of his work as an English Literature major at Holy Cross---where he did well, by the way.
9. "...the post [he received when he was hired by then Missouri Attorney General John Danforth] was substantial -- an assistant attorney general --"
No. Not correct. The position of assistant attorney general is an entry level position for a young attorney. An assistant attorney general has less real authority than the secretaries who work in the attorney general's office, and only slightly more prestige. Rich is easily fooled by titles.
8. The "compassionate conservative" [President Bush] who turned the 2000 G.O.P. convention into a minstrel show..."
No. Not correct. First you need to know that a minstrel shows "portrayed and lampooned blacks in stereotypical and often disparaging ways: as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical." The 2000 G.O.P. convention did none of those things. In fact, Bush went out of his way to court the black vote (and then didn't get it) by giving prominent roles to blacks who had succeeded in business or politics.
When you know that, you realize just how racist Frank Rich really is, in his smarmy liberal way. Only liberals can make that sort of comment about "minstrel shows" and get away with it. Hodding Carter, an aide to Jimmy Carter, once said in Playboy magazine that Justice Thomas was "a 'chicken-eating preacher' who gladly parroted the segregationists' lines in exchange for a few crumbs from the white man's table" and that he was "one of the few left in captivity" as if he were some sort of an animal, confined to a zoo.
Liberals feel free to say those sort of things, and make those sort of references, without fear of being chastised for it. They, and Rich, should be ashamed (but they're not).
7. Thomas' book "follows a Supreme Court decision (which he abetted) outlawing voluntary school desegregation plans in two American cities..."
No. Not correct. Rich is referring to Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 which found that schools which had never been segregated could not prevent students from transferring from one school to another simply because of their race.
Rich is a sort of lazy liberal. I doubt he has read the Supreme Court's opinion, instead permitting liberal colleagues to tell him what it says, and what it means. What the Supreme Court opinion found is that Seattle had never operated legally segregated schools or been subject to court-ordered desegregation. In short, the schools had never been segregated, so it couldn't be "desegregated."
What Rich and his liberal colleagues mean by "desegregation plans" are plans meant to classify and sort students based upon race, regardless of whether there is a history of racial segregation in the first place. He loves the sort of "top-down" social experimentation that treats people like members of an interest group--you are black, you must think like a black person thinks, and we will place you in a school where you will meet whites who think like white people think. God save us from people like Rich.
6. Thomas' book "follows the decision by the leading Republican presidential candidates to snub a debate at a historically black college..."
No. Not correct. The G.O.P. candidates didn't "snub" the Tavis Smiley forum. What they did was make an informed decision not to campaign in a forum which was over 99% Democrat when they are running in a Republican primary where Democrats can't vote. One of the cardinal rules of politics is that you campaign for the votes of people who have the right to vote for you. If you are campaigning before non-voters, or voters who can't vote for you, you are wasting your time. The only candidates who showed up are the ones who had nothing to lose, because they are not even on the radar to become nominees in the Presidential election. The real candidates need to spend their time in primary states in front of real primary voters.
Continue reading "10 Mistakes Frank Rich Made in his Hit Piece about Clarence Thomas"
Frank Rich Lynches Justice Thomas Once Again
Category: Supreme Court Rulings
New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Frank Rich chose to lynch Justice Clarence Thomas again in a recent op-ed piece, where is such lynchings are at least labeled as opinion. The occasion was the publication of Thomas' autobiography entitled My Grandfather's Son which was released by Harper Collins on October 1. Rich is fossilized 60's style social activist who claims that Thomas hasn't changed with the times. Thomas may not have changed with the Times, but the times have caught up with Thomas.
I couldn't help but wonder whether Rich was taking a shot not just at Thomas, but at his first wife, Gail Winston, who is Executive Editor of Harper Collins, Thomas' publisher. For all I know Rich and his ex-wife could be best of friends, but Rich did feature commentary on the $1.5 million book deal, not an inordinate sum based upon what the book should bring in to the publisher. Perhaps that was a backhanded slap at his former spouse, or her employer, for having compensated Thomas for a book which is bound to spend many weeks on the best-sellers list.
Rich's commentary is based upon the CBS 60 minutes interview with Thomas rather than the book itself. It is worth noting that the book has no index. That must have been intentional. There was no way for Rich to simply flip to the back, find the sections which support his thesis, and then print that. He would have had to have actually read the book to comment on it.
Although, if he and his ex are on good terms, perhaps she had slipped him a copy over the transom before the release date. Maybe he already knew that this was a well-written, thoughtful, and revealing portrait of a great man. If he hasn't read it yet, there is still time.
Man dies in Bay County sinking
Willie Frank Toney,66, Selma, Alabama was fishing with a friend in two separate boats when his boat began to sink. He was able to cling to the side of the other boat while that boat went to shore, but when they arrived, he did not regain consciousness. He was later pronounced dead.
Retired Palatka Paramedic shot with Stun Gun
Category: Boating Accidents
Mark Fowler, 57, a retired paramedic from the Palatka Fire Department, was 12 miles off Vilano Beach on a diving trip when he was accidentally shot in the stomach by the projectile from a stun gun. The projectile was driven by a charge from a .357 Magnum. Fowler stayed conscious and directed the others on the boat how to treat his wound to keep him alive during the 12 mile trip back to the dock.
After returning to the Vilano boat ramp Fowler was treated by St. Johns Country paramedics and airlifted to Shands hospital. Once there, he was in critical condition and he was put into a drug-induced coma.
Doctor's Lake Boating Accident at Whitey's Fish Camp
Category: Boating Accidents
A man was severely injured in a boating accident on Doctors Lake when a 16-foot Ranger leaving Whitey's Fish Camp on a fishing tournament hit a manatee sign near the Doctors Lake Bridge. The driver, Arthur Isaac Ferrell, had serious facial injuries and was flown to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center. A friend had to pull him from the lake and bring him ashore.
Derelict Vessels: FWC Spends $250,000 to Remove Barge from St. Johns River
Category: Marine Construction & Dredging
According to the FWC, currently there are about 12,000 derelict vessels in Florida.
The average cost to taxpayers to remove derelect vessels is about $7,000. However, the cost can go as high as $250,000, as recently happened with an abandoned barge in Jacksonville.
The abandoned barge was left in front of Queens Harbor off Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville. Apparently the owner had been tracked down by the FWC, criminal charges had been brought against him, and he fled the country.
The steel barge needed to be cut into pieces and hauled out piece by piece. It had sat in place so long that it could no longer be re-floated.
St Marys to Fernandina Beach Ferry Service may Start in January
Category: Cruise Ship Injuries and Accidents
Amelia River Cruises has leased dock space in St. Marys, Georgia to begin water taxi service between that city and Fernandina Beach. The water taxi, which will carry up to 100 passengers for $13 too $14 per person per trip, is expected to run four times per day. The trip takes about 45 minutes. The company hopes to begin service in January, 2008.
Amelia River Cruises has not yet obtained dock space in Fernandina Beach, but that is expected to occur shortly.
Suwanee Sturgeon Accident Claims Another Boater
Category: Boating Accidents
The resurgence of the Gulf Sturgeon in the Suwanee River has caused another boating accident. This time the victim was a pleasure boat passenger ejected from his boat while the boat was trying to swerve out of the way of one of the jumping fish. Gulf sturgeon migrate into the Suwannee in March to spawn. They stay there until the fall.
The boat was being operated by Brian Norris, 28, of Chiefland, Florida. Roderick Page, 22, was the passenger. They were in a 12-foot aluminum boat near Fowler's Bluff.
Norris was hospitalized in Shands Hospital in Gainesville. Page's body was found by a Levy County dive team.
Kite Sailor hits Dunedin Causeway Power Lines
Category: Marine Construction & Dredging
Christopher Bryan Kenny, 16, Bellair, Florida flew into powerlines while kite-surfing last week near the causeway over St. Joseph's Sound near Dunedin, Florida. He is reported to be in serious condition at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.
The accident happened about 4 p.m. on September 30 when the wind pulled Kenny into the power lines on the north side of the Dunedin Causeway. Witnesses saw an electric arc when Kenny hit the lines. Then he fell 20 to 30 feet to the ground.
Helicopter Crashes with Boat off Sarasota: Is it a maritime case?
Category: Boating Accidents
Earlier today a helicopter was shooting a video for Powerboat magazine when the helicopter hit the boat, killing two people. The question which arises is "is this a maritime case?"
In order for a case to be governed by admiralty and maritime law, three tests have to be met. First, the accident has to occur in a maritime locality. The Gulf of Mexico is part of the navigable waters of the United States and hence the locality test is easily met.
The next test is not quite so easy to apply. There must be a nexus between the activity and a traditional maritime activity. Historically, the operation of an aircraft, by itself, is not a traditional maritime activity. There are exceptions. First, a seaplane while on the water is engaging in a traditional maritime activity. However, an airplane taking off from a runway located adjacent to the navigable waterways is not.
In this case, the fact that the helicopter is filming the operation of a boat, and actually hits the boat, makes it more likely than not that the helicopter is engaging in a traditional maritime activity. Aircraft taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier are, so this would be similar to that situation.
Finally, the activity must have a potential impact on commercial maritime activities. That test is seldom found to be a bar to maritime jurisdiction.
Why is this question important? Because with maritime jurisdiction comes maritime law and maritime remedies---a minefield for the uninitiated, but a potential boon for the knowledgeable.
Thirdly,
The Mythical "Choice of Freight Rates" under COGSA
Category: Supreme Court Rulings
In Norfolk Southern Ry. v. James N. Kirby, Pty Ltd., 543 U.S. 14 (U.S. 2004) Justice O'Connor, speaking for a unanimous Supreme Court, extended maritime contract jurisdiction to train wrecks. To those of us who practice maritime law, the result is not so strange. What is strange is the Court's reference to the mythical "choice of freight rates" which motivated the Court's decision to limit Norfolk Southern's liability to $500 per container after it did over $1.5 million in damage to a shipment of machinery which originated in Australia and was destined for Huntsville, Alabama.
You can forgive the Aussies for being a bit pissed. They are part of the civilized world when it comes to ocean shipping laws and limitations on liability. The laws of the United States are both antiquated and uncivilized and hence carriers operating in the United States could care less about cargo damage. In the vernacular, they don't give a crap. They don't have to.
If you think I'm being overly critical consider this---throughout Europe, heavy lift cargoes, like the machinery Norfolk Southern was carrying, are carried on low-boy or Mafi trailers. In the United States, carriers place the same cargoes, which the Europeans have so carefully handled from the factory to the port, on ordinary truck chassis. When these chassis turn over in transit, as they so frequently do in the U.S., the carriers simply say "Oops!...there goes another $500."
Some power plant manufacturers makes a cottage industry out of cargo damage. Every time CSX or Norfolk Southern loses a power plant component, usually worth over $1.5 million, the manufacturer gets to make another one, and the insurance carrier picks up the bill. Why should they care if the cargo gets damaged in route?
What the Supreme Court said in Kirby was this:
In negotiating the ICC bill, Kirby had the opportunity to declare the full value of the machinery and to have ICC assume liability for that value. Cf. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. Nothnagle, 346 U.S. 128, 135 (1953) (a carrier must provide a shipper with a fair opportunity to declare value). Instead, and as is common in the industry, see Sturley, Carriage of Goods by Sea, 31 J. Mar. L. & Com. 241, 244 (2000), Kirby accepted a contractual liability limitation for ICC below the machinery's true value, resulting, presumably, in lower shipping rates.
In reality, Kirby had no such "opportunity." These freight rates are called "ad valorum" rates and the fact of the matter is that the rates are set so high, over 100 times the comparable insurance rate, that they are nothing more than a way to shift the cost of cargo damage from the carrier's insurer to the cargo owner's insurer.
A couple of years ago I took the deposition of the Risk Manager of a major U.S. to Caribbean ocean carrier. He said that in his 20 years of working as a Risk Manager, he had never, never seen anyone elect to ship cargo under the ad valorum rate. Only a uninformed shipper would do it.
Congress, of course, sought to prevent this result. In the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act it specifically invalidated benefit of insurance clauses or any clauses which attempts to shift the burden of cargo damage away from the ocean carriers, but as you learn the longer you practice law, Courts don't care what Congress wants, or what Congress says. Courts want what they want, and if Congressmen want the law to be a particular way, well, they better just become federal judges.
Maritime Law Applies in State Court Actions
Category: General
I am sometimes surprised that State Courts, as Courts of general jurisdiction, have difficulty with the concept that they are required to apply the maritime law of the United States in actions brought before them dealing with maritime cases, even it it conflicts with their own state law. Here are some cases which may help explain why that it so:
When Does Maritime Law Apply?
Torts committed within the boundaries of maritime jurisdiction are subject to maritime law. Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625, 628, 1959 AMC 597, 599 (1959). For example, the storage and maintenance of a boat on a marina on navigable waters is substantially related to traditional maritime activity and hence maritime law applies, even if the case is brought in a State Court. Sisson v. Ruby, 497 U.S. 358 (U.S. 1990).
Continue reading "Maritime Law Applies in State Court Actions"
The IMO and the "Tacit Acceptance Procedure"
Category: Safety at Sea
I think people who believe that "one world government" is upon us and that someday the United States is going to give up its sovereignty to the United Nations are crazy. At least I did think they were crazy. Now, I just say they are eccentric.
The reason that I went from "crazy" to "eccentric" was because I started looking at the conventions of the International Maritime Organization, and I came across a concept known as the "Tacit Acceptance Procedures."
In the United States, the President can make treaties but under the Constitution treaties must be be ratified by a 2/3rd's vote of the United States Senate. (Article II, Section 2) Since the Senate can't agree on anything the United States virtually never enters into shipping treaties. Consequently, most third world countries have more advanced admiralty and maritime laws than the United States does. For example, the U.S. is still operating under the Hague Rules of 1924, enacted as the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of 1936 while the civilized world operates under the Hague-Visby Rules enacted in 1968 and amended in 1974. The U.S. operates under the 1855 Limitation of Shipowner's Liability Act while the civilized world operates under the Limitation of Liability Conventions adopted in 1976, as amended in 1996. In short, and you can quote me, the United States is backwards as a maritime power.
Because we are so backwards, perhaps it was inevitable that something like the "Tacit Acceptance Procedure" should be developed. It gives the world community, and U.S. regulators, a way to do an end run around an oblivious Senate.
The way the Tacit Acceptance Procedure works is this:
Instead of requiring that an amendment shall enter into force after being accepted by, for example, two thirds of the Parties, the "tacit acceptance" procedure provides that an amendment shall enter into force at a particular time unless before that date, objections to the amendment are received from a specified number of Parties.
In short, a U.N. organization can pass a law or regulation, the U.S. can fail to object in a timely fashion, and the U.N. law or regulation can become part of U.S. law because of "Tacit Acceptance." The unfortunate thing is that you can't even look these laws up in the United States Code or the Code of Federal Regulations. If you want to find them, you need to buy a U.N. publication which tells you what laws you are subject to.
Tacit Acceptance in the maritime arena was copies from other international conventions:
[The IMO] examined the procedures of four other UN agencies: the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It showed that all of these organizations were able to amend technical and other regulations. These amendments became binding on Member States without a further act of ratification or acceptance being required.
If you are subject to the regulation, you have no opportunity to stand up and object. There are no "public hearings" except those held in far off place which you can't get to, and no one attends except bureaucrats from various world governments, and lobbyists.
Nevertheless, one day the Coast Guard can show up on your ship or boat, says "you are in violation of the IMO Convention on ___________________" and they can put you under arrest, or fine you, or seize your boat or ship.
Does it happen? I was at a convention of the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute last May where a lecture was presented on new ship security regulations which went into force, and which were being enforced by the Coast Guard in the United States, without ever having become "U.S. law" as we traditionally perceive that term being used. The security regulations which were being enforced had never been proposed as law by the U.S. House of Representatives, and had never been adopted by the U.S. Senate, but you could nevertheless be arrested, hauled into a United States District Court, be tried, sentenced, and sent to a U.S. prison for violating them.
Continue reading "The IMO and the "Tacit Acceptance Procedure""
The Oceans as CO2 Sink
Category: General
I recently was asked to be a guest on a radio talk show. The topic was global warming and I was asked about those predictions that regardless of what we do, the temperature of the earth will rise 3.5 degrees over the next 50 years. What I said in response was far more polite than what I thought because what I was thinking was that people who say things like that ought to be taken out and, and,......given a stern talking to.
It was two scholars from the Cato Institute who have been making those statements. Their policy is
No known mechanism can stop global warming in the near term. International agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, would have no detectable effect on average temperature within any reasonable policy time frame of 50 years or so, even with full compliance.
I don't know if the Kyoto Protocol or UN Framework would stop global warming, but I do disagree that "no known mechanism can stop global warming."
How Do You Prove Waters Are Not Navigable?
Category: Boating Accidents
I am teaching a particularly bright group of young law students at Florida Coastal School of Law this year. Recently we dicussed my earlier article "Coast Guard, Jurisdictional Creep, and Puzzle Lake" and I asked them how they would prove that a particular body of water was non-navigable. Their answers were remarkably good.
1. Hire a Coast Guard licensed Captain as a marine navigation expert. He could testify that the waterway was not practically usable as a significant means of conducting commercial maritime activities.
2. Hire an hydrologist. He could testify whether the lake was "tidal" and whether "in its customary condition" it was capable of supporting maritime commerce.
Continue reading "How Do You Prove Waters Are Not Navigable?"
The Coast Guard, Jurisdictional Creep, and Puzzle Lake, Florida
Category: Boating Accidents
"If I can put a toothpick in a body of water, and that toothpick can find its way into the ocean, then the United States Coast Guard has jurisdiction over that body of water."
Coast Guard officer investigating death of Vincent Rutowski
on Puzzle Lake, a virtually land-locked pond, invisible on aerial maps
"...Navigability requires that the body of water be capable of supporting commercial maritime activity...The possibility that the waterway is capable of supporting non-commercial [recreational] maritime activity...does not render the waterway capable of supporting 'commercial trade or travel in the customary modes of travel on water.'" and hence the admiralty courts and Coast Guard have no jurisdiction.
LeBlanc v. Cleveland, 198 F.3d 353 (2nd Cit. 2000)
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Dateline: Seminole, Florida
A battle over the geographical jurisdiction of the United States is shaping up over an airboat accident which occurred on Puzzle Lake near Seminole, Florida involving the death of a 7 year old boy, Vincent Rutkowski. The case points out the existence of something I like to call "jurisdictional creep." Jurisdiction creep is the ever expanding geographic control of the United States by the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers which occurs each time either organization redefines the term "navigable waters" to include water which is clearly not "navigable." Before discussing the Coast Guard's creeping jurisdiction, allow me to give some historical background.
When our country was founded, our Founding Fathers established fairly strict boundaries between what the States controlled, and what was going to be controlled by the new "Federal Government." Founding Fathers like Alexander Hamilton, an admiralty and maritime attorney who grew up in loyalist New York, had little interest in reserving to his brethren in New York any power, knowing that they never truly believed in the patriot cause to begin with. Jefferson and Madison, who grew up in Virginia, had little interest in turning over any sovereignty to a federal government, which was already controlled, at the time of the drafting of the Constitution, by Federalists like John Adams from Massachusetts, and the generally-disliked Hamilton.
While the anti-Federalists won the battle over the Constitution, and won further battles in obtaining passage of the 10th Amendment (powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the people and the states) and 11th Amendment (federal courts have no jurisdiction over private suits against the States), you would never know it by today's standards. Today, federal jurisdiction over every aspect of modern life is simply presumed. It was never intended to be so.
Continue reading "The Coast Guard, Jurisdictional Creep, and Puzzle Lake, Florida"
Manipulating Bills of Lading to Screw Cargo Owners with the $500 Package Limitation
Category: General
Background:
In 1882, over 120 years ago, the International Law Association, and specifially the International Bills of Lading Committee, held a meeting in Liverpool, England the goal of which was to find a way to prevent ocean carriers from screwing cargo owners. The way that shipowners were screwing cargo owners was by inserting in the microscopic print on the backs of their bills of lading exoneration clauses, benefit of insurance clauses, and limitation of liability clauses. Since then, national legislatures around the world have succeeded in protecting cargo owners for the most part, except in the United States, where the Courts have fairly consistently intervened to permit the screwing to go on.
The fact that U.S. courts protect shipowners and permit them to screw cargo owners is somewhat of a wonder. The United States has virtually no indigenous merchant marine anymore and while the country prides itself on a long commercial maritime tradition, that tradition is largely product of the national imagination inspired by privateers during the war of 1812 and a vast shipbuilding surge during the Second World War. Other than those historical aberrations, by and large, the United States has always been a country of importers and exporters, not carriers and shipowners.
Consequently, U.S. courts, by permitting shipowners to screw cargo owners, are causing a shift in national income from U.S. importers and exporters, and their predominantly domestic insurers, to foreign shipowners and the predominantly foreign protection and indemnity clubs. However, U.S. courts appear to be oblivious to the effects of their rule-making.
International Rules of the Road: COLREGS
Category: Safety at Sea
I don't know about you, but I can never find the International Rules of Road when I need to look at them. Consequently, for my own benefit, and to help you as well, I have copied Rules 1 though 19, the Steering and Sailing Rules, here. I've omitted the lights and shapes and sound signals, because those are used less frequently, at least by me.
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Rule 1
Application
(a) These Rules shall apply to all vessels upon the high seas and in all waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing vessels.
(b) Nothing in these Rules shall interfere with the operation of special rules made by an appropriate authority for roadsteads, harbours, rivers, lakes or inland waterways connected with the high seas and navigable by seagoing vessels. Such special rules shall conform as closely as possible to these Rules.
(c) Nothing in these Rules shall interfere with the operation of any special rules made by the Government of any State with respect to additional station or signal lights, shapes or whistle signals for ships of war and vessels proceeding under convoy, or with respect to additional station or signal lights or shapes for fishing vessels engaged in fishing as a fleet. These additional station or signal lights, shapes or whistle signals shall, so far as possible, be such that they cannot be mistaken for any light, shape or signal authorized elsewhere under these Rules.
(d) Traffic separation schemes may be adopted by the Organization for the purpose of these Rules.
(e) Whenever the Government concerned shall have determined that a vessel of special construction or purpose cannot comply fully with the provisions of any of these Rules with respect to the number, position, range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to the disposition and characteristics of sound-signalling appliances, such vessel shall comply with such other provisions in regard to the number, position, range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to the disposition and characteristics of soundsignalling appliances, as her Government shall have determined to be the closest possible compliance with these Rules in respect of that vessel.
The Duty to Render Assistance
Category: Safety at Sea
If you are involved in a marine casualty, you have an obligation under federal law to stop and render assistance.
The Federal Act is known as the Stand-By Act. It provides that you must "render necessary assistance to each individual affected to save that affected individual from danger caused by the marine casualty" and "give the master's or individual's name and address and identification of the vessel to the master or individual in charge of any other vessel involved in the casualty." The failure to do so can result in 2 years in jail and a $1000 fine.
You Won't Believe this Story: Sailboat Struck by Barge (read what happens next)
Category: Boating Accidents
Picture this. It's 5 a.m. You're on a sailboat alone off the coast of Florida. You go below to wash your face and suddenly you hear the engines of a ship close by. It turns out to be this tug and barge. You climb out of the hatch and astern you see a red light to the left of you and a green light to the right of you, bearing down quickly. What do you do? Read this USCG Press Release.
What happens when the Coast Guard reaches you? They put you in handcuffs, of course.
There is video too.
Help for Screenwriters: What to Avoid in Ship Disaster Movies
Category: Safety at Sea
My kids are upset with me each year when the annual maritime disaster movie comes out. Their problem? I am perpetually debunking the premise of the movie. Maybe I know too much about ships and shipping, but I simply can't sit quietly by while something totally improbable happens on the screen.
I thought that what I'd do is prepare a list of do's and dont's for screenwriters writing ship disaster movies, or ship horror movies, so that they would be more believeable, and hence I could watch them without cringing. Here is my list:
1. When a ship is upside down, or tilted more than about 15 degrees forward to aft, the lights go out. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It's dark. (It's because of the boilers)
2. You cannot walk through the engine room after there has been an explosion. Superheated steam is invisible, heated to over 1200 degrees and will cut a person in half if it doesn't suffocate them first.
3. If you are trying to escape from a sinking ship, never split up and try to go it alone.
4. If machinery starts operating by itself, stay away from it.
5. If you run aground on an island with rocks shaped like human skulls, don't get off to look around.
6. If the water is rising in the engine room, get out. When it hits the lower boiler drums there will be an explosion, followed by superheated high pressure water shooting in all directions, followed by superheated steam suffocating or scalding to death everyone in the engine room.
7. If there has been an explosion in the engine room, don't go back to see if anyone is alive. They're not, and you won't be either if you go back to check.
8. Don't make a fuss over the Bermuda Triangle. Every cruise ship leaving from Miami or Port Everglades on a Caribbean or Mexican cruise goes through the "Bermuda Triangle". It connects Miami, Bermuda, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. So far, no cruise ship has disappeared.
9. If a ship is aground, throwing the furniture overboard has no appreciable affect on refloating it.
10. If an oil tanker is aground and leaking oil through the bottom, put water into the oil tanks. The water will sink to the bottom of the tank and out the holes in the bottom. The oil will float on top of it, and the volume of the oil spill will be reduced.
11. If the Exxon Valdez is navigating off the coast of Alaska, the Captain doesn't need to be on the bridge. Second and Third Mates do that. It's okay for the Captain to be in his cabin.
12. You can't lift a 50 foot tall gorilla with the ship's cargo gear, from a rocky coastline, and put him in the hold of the ship.
13. No matter how big a shark is, he cannot pull three empty barrels below the surface of the water. The barrels are connected to a single harpoon by a rope. Either the harpoon will pull out of the shark's body, or the rope will break before the barrels are submerged.
14. At sea, never read aloud from a book of incantations which promises to summon demons from the dead. On a ship there is no place to go if the incantations work.
15. If you come upon a ship that is stopped, deserted, and has blood stains on bulkheads, do go aboard looking for somebody to provide an explanation.
16. If you are stranded at sea in a lifeboat, eat the fat guy first. According to cannibals, men taste better than women. ( I don't know why, they just do.) Men are also usually bigger than women and have larger buttocks muscles (from which ham is made). Hence one fat guy will feed more people than a woman will and will keep the others alive longer.
17. Chain saws have very limited uses aboard a ship. If you see someone walking around the ship, covered in blood, and carrying a chain saw, he is probably not a member of the ship's crew. Ditto for hedge trimmers.
18. As a corollary to #14, its probably best not to solve riddles which open the portals to hell while you are at sea either.
19. If you are on a Disney cruise and the children begin speaking in ancient languages, their heads begin spinning around 360 degrees, and they begin vomiting is long gushes, they probably have more than seasickness.
20. Stay off cruise ships named Titanic, Andrea Dorea, or Lusitania, whaling ships named Pequod, and charter fishing boats named Orca.
Not Rendering Assistance after a Boating Accident: A Felony in Florida
Category: Boating Accidents
Recently a sailboat operating off of Port Canaveral was struck by a tug and barge. The sailboat was sunk, but its owner, who was the sole person on board, was left without assistance for over five hours. He alleges that the tug and barge knew it hit him, and simply drove away.
In Florida, failing to render assistance, if it results in death, is a crime known as vessel homicide. Operating a boat in a reckless manner is a second degree felony. However, running away without reporting the incident and rendering assistance turns it into a first degree felony.
Norovirus and Cruise Ships: An abbreviated history
Category: Cruise Ship Injuries and Accidents
A really detailed history of outbreaks of contagious diseases on cruise ships can be found CruiseJunkie.com.
CDC reports on the 2002 M.S. Amsterdam outbreak can be found at the CDC site.
Here is an abbreviated history, focusing on known or suspected norovirus outbreaks:
Continue reading "Norovirus and Cruise Ships: An abbreviated history"
BUI in Florida: Any BAL over .08 is presumptive
Category: Boating Accidents
In Florida, a vessel operator is presumed to be under the influence if their blood or breath alcohol level is at or above .08. Some states, like Missouri, have a .08 level for operating an automobile, but .10 for boat operation.
What happens if a boat is in an accident and the driver is rendered unconscious? The fact is that the FWC will try to use a blood test, and project backwards to the time of the accident. The problem is that there is no scientific evidence on the rate of alcohol absorbtion of a person who is unconscious. All alcohol absorbtion tables which the State currently uses are based upon conscious subjects.
Abandoning a boat is illegal in Florida
Category: Boat, Ship and Marina Fires
I'm currently involved in a case where a boat caught on fire while it was being fueled by its owner. It burned an adjacent boat, whose owner I represent, and then broke away and floated down the creek where it had been docked. I came to a stop against another dock and sank.
The owner (and the owners' attorney) have been promising to remove the wreck for 16 months now, but so far it hasn't been done. If he doesn't remove it, the FWC may need to get involved.
According to Florida Statutes, it is illegal to store, leave, or abandon any derelict vessel in the state. A violation is a first degree misdemeanor. In addition, if the owner of a derelict vessel fails to abide by an order of the FWC to remove the vessel, a civl penalty can be assessed of up to $50,000 per day. A derelict vessel is one which is "wrecked, junked, or substantially dismantled condition."
Does it really happen? As John Saxer, a 55-year-old bicycle repairman and bartender who works in Tarpon Springs but lives in Holiday, Florida, found out, it does. He sold his ferrocement boat Ark of Eden to a friend, but the friend never registered her ownership with the State of Florida. When it sunk, she walked away, leaving Saxer as the registered owner.
He failed to appear when he was summoned by the FWC and was arrested. He is now out on bail of $500 but the State of Florida is seeking $37,500 in removal costs from him. You can read the full story in the St. Petersburg Times.