Articles Posted in Maritime Issues

On July 7, 2012, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to an anhydrous ammonia leak on board the F/V EXCELLENCE while the fishing vessel was docked in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.  According to reports, the vessel had been leaking ammonia from a one-inch pipe on the low pressure side of the refrigeration system.  Because of the potential hazard posed to the community and the crew, the Coast Guard established a 500 foot exclusionary zone around the vessel, evacuated the crew, and had the vessel towed away from the port to a buoy.

Ammonia is a colorless, highly irritating gas that will cause burning of the eyes, nose, and throat even in small amounts.  With higher doses of exposure, coughing or choking may occur and deaths have occurred due to swollen throats or chemical burns to the lungs.  Eye exposure to concentrated gas or liquid can cause serious corneal burns or even blindness.  The severity of the symptoms from ammonia exposure usually depends on the degree of exposure.

If you have ongoing symptoms associated with an ammonia exposure, you should contact an experienced maritime lawyer to explain your options.  Exposure to ammonia can lead to long-term complications, including occupational asthma.  Our law firm obtained a verdict in excess of $1.1 million dollars in 2008 in King County Superior Court for three workers who developed occupational asthma from a chemical exposure on a Washington State ferry.  This is believed to be one of the largest verdicts for occupational asthma in the country.    

The Honorable Marsha J. Pechman issued an award on July 27, 2012 finding that the Fishing Company of Alaska was negligent for injuries sustained by Ransom Honeycutt while serving as a deckhand on board the F/V ALASKA RANGER on August 1, 2007.  Honeycutt was injured as he jumped off the net over a 39-inch wall on the trawl deck and landed on a large strap out on the deck.  Judge Pechman found that FCA was negligent in leaving the strap on the outboard side of the wall where deckhands were known to jump.  Judge Pechman awarded damages of $103,213 plus pre-judgment interest for Honeycutt’s knee injury, which included an ACL tear.  Plaintiff was represented by Richard J. Davies of Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC. Defendant was represented by Michael Barcott of Holmes Weddle & Barcott, P.C.

In a joint effort between the Coast Guard and the crew of the 750-foot motor vessel, Forestal Diamante, seven mariners have been rescued after they were forced to abandon ship at approximately 11 p.m. Wednesday due to a shipboard fire 316 miles northeast of Johnston Island, an unincorporated territory of the United States in the Pacific.

The Coast Guard received distress alerts from two Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons and initiated a search Thursday morning. Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu initially received an unknown Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon with an unspecific location to the distress. Two hours later watchstanders received another alert that belonged to a NOAA observer, who was based out of Honolulu. After gathering his information, JRCC watchstanders learned he was aboard the 72-foot fishing vessel, Golden Eagle II, which is also home ported in Honolulu.

An HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point was launched at 8 a.m. The Hercules arrived on scene at approximately 10:30 a.m. to find the Golden Eagle II listing and a life raft floating nearby. Coast Guard watchstanders contacted the crew of the 750-foot motor vessel, Forestal Diamante, which was 60 miles from the Golden Eagle II under the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue Program. Forestal Diamante arrived on scene at approximately 11:15 a.m. and rescued all seven crew form the Golden Eagle II.

Courts have long recognized the right of seamen to recover for injuries suffered during ingress/egress, commuting, and shore leave. The Supreme Court of the United States extended Jones Act recovery to land-based injuries in 1943, and since then recovery has become progressively more expansive. O’Donnell v. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, 318 U.S. 36 (1943). Today, “a seaman is as much in the service of his ship when boarding it on first reporting for duty, quitting it on being discharged, or going to and from the ship while on shore leave, as he is while on board at high sea.” Braen, 361 U.S. at 132, citing, Aguilar, 318 U.S. at 736-37.

Whether a seaman is “in the course of employment” is a function of “1) the degree of control the employer-vessel owner had over the seaman at the time of injury; and 2) whether the seaman, at the time of injury, was on personal business or on a mission for the benefit of his employer or attending to the business of the employer.” Lee v. Mississippi River Grain Elevator, Inc., 591 So.2d 1371, 1373 (La. App. 1991).

Courts have consistently held that a seaman need not be onboard the vessel in order to be in the “course of employment.” Aguilar, 318 U.S. 724; Braen, 361 U.S. 129; Williamson v. Western Pacific Dredging Corp., 441 F.2d 65, 66 (9^th Cir. 1971). “When the seaman’s duties carry him ashore, the shipowner’s obligation is neither terminated nor narrowed,” and responsibility of the shipowner “should not be narrowed to exclude from its scope characteristic and essential elements of that work.” Aguilar, supra at 732, 735. In holding vessel owners liable for on-shore injuries, the Aguilar court cautioned against “cast[ing] upon the seaman hazards encountered only by reason of the voyage.” Id. at 733.

The Coast Guard reported via news release that a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a fisherman who reportedly received an electric shock and was suffering from cardiac complications 172 miles northwest of Dillingham Friday.

The Jayhawk crew arrived on scene with the fishing vessel Cape Horn at 1:25 p.m., safely hoisted the 43-year-old crewmember and delivered him to emergency medical services in Dillingham at 3:10 p.m.

The crewmember reportedly received a shock of 480 volts while working on the electrical switchboard aboard the vessel. The Cape Horn is a 145-foot fishing vessel based in Seattle.

Curt Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer who tracks flotsam says he’s expecting 100 vessels carried off by the Japanese tsunami to arrive on the West Coast in the next couple of years. Several months ago, a 164-foot Japanese shrimping vessel that was swept away by the Tsunami arrived in the Gulf of Alaska (check out our May 1, 2012 blog post). At the time of its arrival, there was much discussion about the risk that this “ghost ship” posed to vessels in navigation. Ultimately, the Coast Guard sank the vessel to prevent it from becoming a hazard to vessels in navigation.

In addition, Ebbesmayer opines that West Coast beachcombers may find floating athletic shoes with human bones as more debris from the Japanese tsunami washes ashore. In a presentation Monday at a tsunami symposium in Port Angeles, Washington told the audience he’s expected 100 sneakers with bones in them. He’s advising anyone who discovers human remains to call 911 and wait for police.

Ebbesmeyer also said He expects the amount of tsunami debris to peak in October and that the debris could attract a number of Japanese visitors to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

In a meeting on Monday, May 21 the Washington State Department of Transportation recommended replacing the Mukilteo ferry terminal with a new facility approximately one-third of a mile east of the existing dock.

In a press release, the department suggested that the new location, known as Elliot Point 2, best addresses environmental concerns as well as inadequate connections between the ferry and other forms of public transportation, and an aging terminal in need of significant repair and upgrading.

WSDOT says construction of a terminal at this site would cost at least $120 million and the legislature says it has identified $90.1 million for the project. The project will apply for additional federal funding once the environmental impact statement is done in February of 2013. Construction would likely begin in 2015.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for six persons near Galveston at 12 p.m., Tuesday. A mayday call came in from the captain of a fishing vessel Sunday, at 1:15 p.m., reporting that the vessel was taking on water. He reported that there were six people aboard who were abandoning ship and getting into an orange life raft. Because of the poor quality of the radio transmission, the name of the vessel was difficult for watchstanders to interpret, and was either Scallywag or Skylark.

The Coast Guard conducted 21 searches, utilizing 10 surface and air assets covering 2,855 square miles, which is larger than the state of Delaware. “The Coast Guard has saturated the search area for the past two days with no success in finding the life raft or any signs indicating that a vessel sunk,” Lt. Julio Gonzalez, command duty officer for Sector Houston-Galveston.

With no new developments or correlating information, the Coast Guard has suspended the active search for the possible missing persons but may resume the search if new information is received.

Ian Jefferds was nervous about the decrepit, 128-foot crab boat from the moment it was towed into the midst of the rich shellfish beds of Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove on Christmas Eve.

The boat was listing and had no propulsion of its own. It was large enough that Jefferds, co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish, feared the vessel, the Deep Sea, might slip its mooring and swing into his company’s mussel rafts or even the Coupeville dock.

“Everybody in our company and around here saw this as a potential problem from the get-go,” Jefferds said Tuesday.