* Ernest Scribbler wrote, On 8/12/2007 6:10 AM:
"otnmbrd" wrote
Comon Wilbur, ..... read rule 4, first rule of Part B, then rule 5, then
read rule 2, then go back to rule 5 "every vessel shall at ALL times"

... then stand on your head and spell "rhinoceros" ...

Unless there are unambiguous definitions of "proper look-out" and "all
available means" and "appropriate in the prevailing circumstances" somewhere
in there, any competent attorney should be able to convince any reasonable
judge that these is more guidelines than actual rules.


Actually, there are such definitions. Read a book such as Farwells
and you'll start to understand. And remember, Admiralty Courts are
not the same as the normal courts you see on TV. Actually, at some
levels in the US they are the same, but most of the time they follow
the established precedents.

Here's a link to an appeal court's ruling that I found interesting
because it is a rare case where a boat was found 100% at fault, rather
than shared blame. The sailboat, Coyote, is the vessel Mike Plant
disappeared from when the keel fell off. His fiancée inherited the
boat and chartered it to Dave Scully, who bumped it into a fishing
boat on a qualifying run. Scully was found 100% at fault, for
not having a lookout or proper lights.

http://www.law.emory.edu/4circuit/dec97/961209.p.html

What it boils down to is that if you hit something you didn't see, its
your fault. And when you start out by saying you do a scan every 15
minutes, that would be essentially admitting you didn't see something.

One curious thing is that many minor cases are really decided by
insurance companies. They will divide blame as they see fit, which
will affect the owners as far as the deductible payment. A friend was
in a simple port/starboard collision. They were on starboard, but
admitted they didn't see the other boat until it was too late. This
implied they didn't keep a proper lookout and thus were judged 24%
responsible by the insurance companies. The other boat had to pay 76%
of their deductible, they paid 24% of the other's. I assume they
figured that 48% of the issue was lookout, 52% was port/starboard.

If you want to consider something vague in the rules, think about the
way "Safe Speed" is defined, and how that applies to high speed
vessels in the fog.