Paul,
It is not as unusual as some might want to believe.


"P Fritz" wrote in message
...
A couple of years ago a small craft stalled as it was crossing the shipping
channel south of Detroit, the was a lake freighter upbound, and crushed
the
small craft........the freighter was not at fault.

"Dr. Dr. Smithers" Ask Me about my Phd @ Diploma Mill .com wrote in
message . ..
JimC,
My comment concerning the statement ", if "you" collided with them,
"you"
would be at fault. It is your responsibility, under Rule 8, the
collision regulations, to avoid a collision.

I was pointing out there are situations where you can be involved in a
collision and not be held responsible, because there was nothing a
reasonable captain could have done to avoid the collision. If a boater
is
traveling too fast for the situation, or too close for the speed, he can
be
held responsible for the collision, if the sailboat turns directly in
front
of the powerboater, even if the powerboater is traveling too fast and too
close to the sailboat, the sailboater can be found partially responsible
for
the accident.

At this point, the horse has been beat to death, dragged through the
fiedl
and left to rot, so it probably is a good time to end this thread.




gers.com wrote in message ...

"Dr. Dr. Smithers" Ask Me about my Phd @ Diploma Mill .com wrote in
message . ..
Jim C,

I think we disagreed because you thought I was referring to Bill's
example
and I was not.

In reference to my comment about If ships were to maintain a speed and
distance that would allow them to avoid all collision, no ship would
leave
the dock.

If two ships are passing in a channel and one suddenly behaves in a
completely unexpected manner, the other ship will not be able to avoid
the
collision. I mentioned the ship on the Mississippi who lost all power
in
a
bend in the river and slammed into a shopping mall. If another ship
or
barge was coming up the river, it would have hit the other ship or
barge.

Dr. Smithers, are you only referring to ships not leaving the dock if
there
shipping routes were only to be in River Systems or canals?
or.....Are
you referring to ALL ships at sea not leaving their docks?

Just as a comment. The freighter that lost power in the Mississippi
did
radio a warning to other traffic on the river which kept other shipping
away. They could not warn the pier to move out of the way. ;-)
The
major factor in the ship hitting the pier was that it dropped it's
anchor
and that caused the ship to swerve to the shore line. With that much
mass
in motion, it takes some time to stop when the engine is not
functioning.
It's rudder could not turn the ship due to the anchor that was dropped
and
also it was moving with the current.

Jim Carter
"The Boat"
Bayfield