08 Nov

Eight New NMSAC Appointees

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
With little fanfare (actually none at all), the Secretary of Homeland Security has appointed eight individuals to serve on the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC), bringing the Committee to its full complement for the first time in quite a while.  I find it surprising that the USCG didn’t find these appointments worthy of a news release, such as the…
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08 Nov

To stay warm and dry at sea, think high-performance clothing

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Publication > Professional Mariner
Having just joined the ship the day before, we were anchored off St. George Island, Alaska, at the beginning of a trip delivering a fish processing ship from the Bering Sea to Seattle. A late winter storm pounding us with 50-knot winds and blowing snow was delaying our departure. As night approached, the ship’s electrician came up to the wheelhouse…
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Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 4
19 Oct

Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 4

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
The following is the final installment of a four-part series on the legacies of the Titanic disaster: Lessons Learned: Causation: The “Error Chain” and investigating how and why it happened The history of maritime investigations, since TITANIC, has been one of slow, and sometime frustrating, development. It has been 60 years since the legal obligation of maritime administrations to conduct…
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Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 2
10 Oct

Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 2

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
The following is Part 2 of a four-part series on the legacies of the Titanic disaster: Communications and the Vessel in Distress The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, first adopted in 1914 as a consequence of the TITANIC casualty and now sponsored by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), complemented the International Radiotelegraph Convention and its International Telecommunications Union…
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Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 1
04 Oct

Maitland: Lessons of the Titanic 1912-2012, Part 1

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
On Sept. 17 in Banff, Alberta, I gave a presentation at the World Maritime Day observance “Titanic and the Arctic.”* My talk was based on the following manuscript, which Professional Mariner is presenting here as a four-part series: Part 1: Introduction; Design; Evacuation, Survival and Rescue The night of April 14, 1912 – the famous “night to remember”, chosen by…
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03 Oct

NMSAC September 2012 Meeting Part 2

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
The National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) reconvened without a quorum on the morning of September 12th to hear about and discuss the two remaining agenda items, Using the Marine Highway for Hazardous Cargo and Port Security Grants. The Committee also heard a statement concerning CDC tracking and discussed its future meetings.The all-day session on September 11th had dealt with…
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26 Sep

NMSAC September 2012 Meeting, Part I

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook
The September 2012 meeting of National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) was typical in that the original agenda was immediately altered as the order of topics changed and some switched meeting days.  It was also distressingly atypical in that the audio for the audience attending by webcast and teleconference was among the worst in living memory.  As a consequence, there…
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Chalos: Fatal shooting on drill rig becomes landmark Jones Act employment case
27 Aug

Chalos: Fatal shooting on drill rig becomes landmark Jones Act employment case

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Industry News
A new decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has addressed the scope of the phrase “in the course of employment” in the context of corporate vicarious liability under the Jones Act. In Beech v. Hercules Drilling Company, decided on Aug. 14, 2012, the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision and held that an employer could not be…
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