Category: Uncategorized
Hurricane Sandy caused a replica of the HMS BOUNTY to sink off North Carolina coast yesterday. A crewmember died and the captain is missing. Reports now indicate that the vessel sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia bound for St. Petersburg, Florida to participate in a tall ships event. The decision to sail was made despite weather… Read More
A Bellingham, Wash., couple was instrumental in the rescue of a man adrift for 26 hours in a plastic fish bin in Alaskan waters last month. Tele Aadsen and Joel Brady-Power may have saved 19-year-old Ryan Harris, who was afloat in open seas after his boat capsized northwest of Sitka, Alaska, The Bellingham Herald reported… Read More
To those of us who live in Puget Sound country, the Italian cruise ship tragedy calls to mind a similiar episode in our local waters. In 1983, the 2800 gross ton state ferry ELWHA grounded on a reef just off Orcas Island, in the scenic San Juans. In that case, the skipper deliberately deviated from… Read More
Those who earn their living at sea have an additional reason to be thankful this year: The U.S. Supreme Court, and lower courts, have recently made rulings of benefit to injured seamen. The Supreme Court has affirmed the historic principle that a seaman may recover damages if vessel negligence contributed in any degree, no matter… Read More
Another tragedy has struck the Alaska fishing fleet. The KATMAI, a 93-foot head and gut fishing vessel capsized and sank in the Aleutian Islands early in the morning on Wednesday, October 22. It now appears that only four of the KATMAI’s eleven crewmembers survived. The last communication from the KATMAI was an e-mail reporting incursion… Read More
The rankings show a pattern of insurance industry avarice amongst 10 companies that refuse to pay just claims, reward executives with extravagant salaries, employ hardball tactics against their own customers, and unjustly raise premiums while hoarding tremendous profits. Ranked number one as the worst was Allstate. For example, in the 1990’s Allstate contracted with McKinsey… Read More
