Supreme Court Decision on Seamen’s Rights

Posted on December 17, 2009
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The U. S Supreme Court heard and decided Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v Edgar Townsend (Case WL 1789469), a case that protects a seaman’s right to receive damages if an employer withholds obligatory maintenance and cure.

Edgar Townsend suffered injuries while he worked on a tugboat belonging to the Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. The company allegedly declined paying the obligatory maintenance and cure provided for under the Jones Act. Read more

British Racing Yacht Detained in Iran

Posted on November 30, 2009
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Five British sailors have been detained in Iran after their racing yacht was stopped by the Iranian navy while sailing from Bahrain to Dubai. It was noted that they may have inadvertently sailed into Iranian waters.

The racing yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by the five Britons, was stopped by Iranian naval vessels last Wednesday. The crew members are still in Iran. All are understood to be safe and well and their families have been informed.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said:

“FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) officials immediately contacted the Iranian authorities in London and in Tehran on the evening of November 25, both to seek clarification and to try and resolve the matter swiftly.

“Our ambassador in Tehran has raised the issue with the Iranian foreign ministry and we have discussed the matter with the Iranian embassy in London. I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families.”

The boat had been due to take part in the 360-mile Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race which was due to start last Thursday. The race passes through the shallows of the Arabian Gulf, into the deep waters of the Indian Ocean via the Straits of Hormuz, before arriving into the Oman capital of Muscat.

Shadow foreign minister David Lidington called for the sailors to be released immediately.

He told the BBC:

“I think it is completely unjustifiable and I believe Iran should release these people from captivity without delay. There was no justification for them being arrested in the first place.”

Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v Edgar Townsend

Posted on October 14, 2009
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The U. S Supreme Court heard and decided Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v Edgar Townsend (Case WL 1789469), a case that protects a seaman’s right to receive damages if an employer withholds obligatory maintenance and cure.

Edgar Townsend suffered injuries while he worked on a tugboat belonging to the Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. The company allegedly declined paying the obligatory maintenance and cure provided for under Jones Act.

Maintenance & cure benefits are similar to workmen’s compensation and are available to seamen who are injured while at work. It does not matter if the seaman caused his own injury, it is still covered.

Townsend filed suit for his maintenance & cure and also sought punitive damages.

Atlantic Sounding requested a dismissal of the punitive damages claim but the District Court denied this and the case was heard.
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NJ to launch “Operation Dry Water”

Posted on June 17, 2009
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State police in New Jersey will mount extra patrols the weekend of June 26 to 28 as part of Operation Dry Water, a national effort to curb boating under the influence of alcohol.

“We will be fully engaged to support the program,” said state police spokesman Sgt. Steve Jones.

“More than 20 percent of fatal boating accidents are the result of alcohol use,” according to the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, which is coordinating the “Dry Water” program. Just like drunk driving, alcohol use impairs judgment, balance, vision and reaction time on the water, the group said.

Read the full story here.

Piracy Ended With Military Action by US

Posted on April 14, 2009
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On April 8th, 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the small container ship Maersk Alabama and left, taking the captain hostage. Five days later, the crisis has been ended by naval sniper fire.

Adrift in the Gulf of Aden, the pirates waited with Captain Richard Phillips with the demand of two million dollars and a number of United States Naval vessels surrounding them.

FBI hostage negotiators were on board the USS Bainbridge which was the first ship to arrive in the gulf to attempt to regain Mr. Phillips. At one point the pirates contacted fellow conspirators and made plans to take the captain back to shore where they could hold him until a ransom was delivered. At roughly midnight between Thursday and Friday Phillips attempted to escape by swimming to the Bainbridge but AK-47 warning shots turned him back. Soon, the Bainbridge was accompanied by the USS Halyburton, a frigate which carries helicopters, and the USS Boxer, which is amphibious and capable of firing missiles.

Washington authorized the use of military force Friday night, Saturday morning for the captain, and the ships circled closer. Negotiations began to sour and eventually one pirate gave himself over to the Navy; he is still alive. Observers aboard the Bainbridge noticed Sunday evening, as many Americans were leaving Easter prayer services, that Phillips was tied and one of the pirates was aiming at his back. The order was given from the Bainbridge’s commander, and the remaining pirates were fired upon and Phillips was rescued soon thereafter.

Shell Oil Cast More Than Pennies Down This Well

Posted on January 2, 2009
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Shell Oil has embarked on quite an ambitious project 200 hundred miles off the coast of Galveston, TX.  In the summer to 2008 they anchored a newly built 50,000 ton floating rig to the seafloor, located over an area known as the Perdido foldbelt.  The rig is aimed at accessing the crude oil and natural gas locked in a swath of seabed roughly the size of Houston, which could potentially yield up to 130,000 barrels of oil a day.

The engineering behind this project is an amazing feat, with more specs than you could shake a stick at.  To access the oil, 22 wells are planned to be drilled in the seafloor below the rig, in addition to 13 more wells nine miles away.  Instead of each well being traditionally connected to the spar by its own pipe (one 2 mile length of pipe being 500 tons), there will be five pipes called risers connecting to the spar.  In addition, more pipe will connect each well on the seafloor, and truck sized generators will separate the oil from gas, pumping it up to the spar.  All in all, that will encompass 184 miles of pipe under almost two miles of water, depths at which there is extreme pressure.

Given that Americans consume over 20 million barrels of oil a day, 130,000 barrels a day won’t exactly solve the problem America’s oil problems.  However, given that there are hundreds of other locations in the gulf’s deep water, perfecting this technology can certainly help in accessing all that other oil waiting to be harvested.

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Floating City Soon to Sail

Posted on December 20, 2008
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In the American spirit of bigger is better and super sizing it, Royal Caribbean is coming close to completing their new $1.2 billion flagship, the Oasis of the Seas.  This ship will have the new claim of biggest passenger ship ever, making that claim by an overage of 2,000 passengers, with a total passenger capacity of 6,300.   Not only is the passenger size the biggest, but so is the balcony count, on board swimming pool, and first football sized tree filled outdoor park.  The 18 story behemoth superliner will not be pushed, but pulled by two 20 foot tall propellers mounted on swiveling pods, powered by 30,000 horsepower diesel engines.

As great as an accomplishment as all of that sounds, the current status of the world economy brings into question how much or how long it will take for this monster to bring in a profit.  Either way, take a look at the promo video.

Cruise ship strikes ice, stranded on Antarctic coast

Posted on December 4, 2008
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) – A cruise ship carrying 122 people was stranded Thursday on the coast of Antarctica after striking ice, officials said.

Mariano Memolli of the Argentina Antarctic Directorate told Argentina’s TodoNoticias (TN) Television a naval boat and plane were dispatched to evacuate the passengers of the Ushuaia as a precaution.

The ship, carrying 89 passengers and 33 crew members, was losing fuel and taking on water but was not in danger of sinking, Television C5N reported.

Adm. Daniel Martin, head of the naval base in Ushuaia, Argentina, where a call for help was received from the ship, said the passengers were “in a perfect state of health,” and were awaiting the arrival of the Atlantic Dream, a nearby cruise ship, C5N said.

Click here to read the full story.

Somali Pirate Update – Nov 19th 2008

Posted on November 19, 2008
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Indian warship destroys a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden

$10m ransom demanded for captured Saudi supertanker

Somali Pirates Hijack Thai Fishing Boat & 16 Crew

Ship belonging to Iran’s state shipping lines captured off the Yemen coast

39 ships have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in 2008

Pirates living the high life (BBC)

Somali Pirates Hijack Saudi Oil Tanker

Posted on November 17, 2008
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Just six weeks after Somali pirates had hijacked a Ukrainian ship bound for Kenya, Somali pirates have reportedly hijacked a Saudi oil tanker off the eastern coast of Africa. The 1,000 ft-long Sirius Star, which had been headed for the United States, is reported to be the largest ship hijacked to date.

Britain announced earlier this month that it would take the lead in a multi-national taskforce designed to tackle the heavily armed gangs patrolling the Arabian Sea. In the mean time, some shipping companies have taken matters into their own hands by refusing to navigate these dangerous waters, resulting in costly delays as a result of longer shipping routes. Read more

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