The Boating Barrister

By John K. Fulweiler, Esq. I was in San Diego last week. A quick jaunt. Out and back in forty-eight hours. As I’m in a committed relationship with the Atlantic, I scowled at the Pacific and counted the time to boarding. Lonely travel has you chewing on thoughts until there’s just the gristle: an elastin mouthful of issues reduced to the basics. I like the occasional solo jaunt for that reason. I return with new clarity. I’ve…

In aid of preventing the loss of vessels and their cargo to the sea, the law of maritime salvage tosses the concept of time and materials billing overboard and embraces the monetary mechanics of a salvage award. That is, a volunteer who successfully renders aid to a vessel in distress is entitled to an award for his/her efforts which is almost always far in excess of any time and materials calculation.

Finding & Hiring a Maritime Injury Lawyer

I’m an admitted consumer of “boat porn.” It’s not the salacious viewing you’re conjuring. Boat listings (both print and online), boat ‘fail’ videos (including the grainy, but always amusing trailer launch mishaps) and YouTube’s offerings of those living aboard their sailboats are the images I steal away to view. If you watch enough of this stuff, you’re left with the impression that a lot of folks do stupid things and get away unscathed, that luck favors the novice, and that nobody seems much to care about the elements of good seamanship.

Most consumer contracts, whether for rental cars, airline tickets, cruise travel or leases, have a lot of terms in a tight space. If you don’t have the time to read the whole thing, consider starting with the last page and working backwards. The corporate counsel who drafted this bloated contract probably stuck some of the bad stuff toward the end, so start there. Working from the transom, keep the acronym FAAT in mind and it’ll help you spot trouble.

The Vestas 11th Hour Racing reported collision with a fishing vessel is a horrific situation and my sympathies spread wide. I grieve for the family of the deceased fisherman. I grieve for the Vestas crew, who’ll drag this tortured night across many an ocean. But as sorry as I am it happened, I’m mad that it happened.

John K. Fulweiler, Esq. is a Proctor-in-Admiralty representing individuals and small businesses in maritime matters including personal injury claims throughout the East and Gulf Coasts and with his office in Newport, Rhode Island. He can be reached at 1-800-383-MAYDAY (6293), or visit his website at saltwaterlaw.com.

I’m interested in your thoughts on the gun issue. Do you carry a gun aboard your vessel? What concerns or problems do you have with guns aboard vessels? What questions do you have about mixing guns and seawater? Let me know and I can tailor an upcoming article to try and address the broad contours of this issue.

I may have lost too much tide in my life’s harbor to relate to the fellow (and yeah, it seems to be a gender-biased phenomena) who leaps from the upper decks of a passenger ferry. My informal survey suggests that typically the leap, plunge, backflip or plummet occurs as the ferry approaches a point of disembarkation.

John K. Fulweiler, Esq. is a Proctor-in-Admiralty representing individuals and small businesses in maritime matters including personal injury claims throughout the East and Gulf Coasts and with his office in Newport, Rhode Island. He can be reached at 1-800-383-MAYDAY (6293), or visit his website at saltwaterlaw.com.