In the Labor Day 2019 D/V CONCEPTION casualty, 33 passengers and one crewmember perished, all below deck in the passenger bunkroom as the dive excursion vessel burned to the waterline just offshore Santa Cruz Island, near the California coast. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted the vessel’s captain for gross negligence under the Seaman’s Manslaughter Act. The DOJ press release on this past Monday’s jury verdict finding the captain guilty is linked here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/captain-santa-barbara-based-dive-boat-burned-and-sank-resulting-34-deaths-found-guilty The post Gu ..read more

The Marine Safety Alert draws from casualty investigations, including the D/V CONCEPTION casualty in which 33 passengers and one crew perished, and includes admonitions on use of open flame candles, Sterno heating cans, and plastic trash cans, storage of combustible materials close to ignition sources, and clearly marking engine room escape hatches. The post U.S. Coast Guard Shares Lessons Learned From Recent Small Passenger Vessel Fire Investigations first appeared on Goldsmith & Ogrodowski, LLC ..read more

Fred Goldsmith was honored today to be formally sworn into the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Honorable William G. Young, one of the Court’s preeminent and erudite judges, who is also an expert on the Court’s history of hearing admiralty and maritime cases.  Fred intends to practice admiralty and maritime law and serve as a mediator in the greater Boston and Cape Cod regions.  Fred was formally admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 2022. The post Fred Goldsmith Sworn Into Bar of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts first appeared on G ..read more

On March 19, 2018, the U.S. Coast Guard published a formal notice in the Federal Register, amending its regulations to increase the estimated dollar value of property damage required for vessel operators to immediately report the incident to this federal agency.  A reportable property damage “marine casualty” increases to $100,000, from $25,000, and a “serious marine incident” in the property damage realm increases from $100,000 to $200,000. The Coast Guard’s notice explains the increases are intended to catch-up with inflation and maintain the agency’s intent that “relatively minor” or ..read more

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on March 9, 2022, a crewman aboard a scallop boat has pled guilty in Boston federal court to one count of murder in the second degree, one count of attempted murder, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.  Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs on June 28, 2022. The rampage occurred on September 23, 2018, aboard the F/V CAPTAIN BILLY HAVER while about 55 miles offshore Nantucket.  Meave Vazquez allegedly struck one fellow crewman ..read more

A fascinating, comprehensive, critical, at times alarming, official report on the state of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and by implication our nation’s merchant marine readiness in the event of war, has just been released by the National Academy of Public Administration. It is entitled, “Organizational Assessment of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy: A Path Forward,” and linked here: https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/napa-2021/NAPA-Panel-Report-FINAL.pdf The report addresses, among other things, crumbling infrastructure, lack of oversight by the Department of Transportation, overworked an ..read more

In its blog, “Coast Guard Maritime Commons – The Coast Guard Blog for Maritime Professionals,” a recent post describes the federal agency’s zero tolerance for sexual assault in the U.S. maritime industry. The post states, “The Coast Guard stands ready to investigate each report or tip alleging that a credentialed mariner committed a sexual assault. The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) will initiate an investigation and gather additional information for all reports of sexual assault, or other crimes at sea. Coast Guard investigators work alongside Coast Guard attorneys to ensure they ga ..read more

The report, per its summary, makes recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard, “starting with the use of risk assessment for DUKW operations and then providing specific recommendations to mitigate the hazards discussed in the chapters on flooding, operating areas, canopies, life jackets, and safety operations. All recommendations are specific to WWII DUKWs, Stretch Ducks, and Truck Ducks.” The report can be downloaded here: https://www.nap.edu/read/26447/chapter/1 The post National Academies of Science, Engineering, & Medicine Release Report on Improving Safety of Duck Boats ap ..read more

The U.S. Coast Guard is issuing interim regulations to implement new statutorily mandated requirements for fire safety on certain small passenger vessels. This follows the overnight fire on the dive boat CONCEPTION off the coast of California on September 2, 2019, during which 33 passengers and one crewman died. Per the below-linked notice appearing in the Federal Register on December 27, 2021, “This interim rule adds additional fire safety requirements for small passenger vessels, including fire detection and suppression systems, avenues of escape, egress drills, crew firefighting training, w ..read more

G&O lawyers Fred Goldsmith and Eric Iamurri authored “A Primer on Admiralty and Maritime Actions and the Federal Courts“, which appears in the January 1, 2021, edition of the Lawyers Journal, published by the Allegheny County Bar Association. The post Admiralty & Maritime Cases in Federal Court appeared first on Goldsmith & Ogrodowski, LLC ..read more