The United States Coast Guard rescued five people after their boat hit a breakwall in Milwaukee late Sunday night. The vessel was traveling at McKinley Marina when they struck the wall at 20 mph. When the Coast Guard arrived, three women and one man were holding on to the bow…
A body has been found in the search area for the cruise line passenger who went missing aboard Holland America’s Zaandam cruise ship on Monday. The body was taken to Juneau for positive identification. The individual who went missing, 45-year-old Amber Malkuch of Washington State, is believed to have fallen…
The United States Coast Guard is searching for a 31-year old fisherman who fell overboard on Friday, July 31 in Togiak Bay, Alaska. The fisherman, Benjamin Symmes, was working aboard a 28-foot fishing vessel, the Miss Colleen, when he fell overboard approximately one half mile off Anchor Point in Togiak…
Captain John Joseph Cota was sentenced to ten months in federal prison after he caused the Cosco Busan, a 900-ft container ship to collide with the San Francisco Bay Bridge. This collision discharged approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay, killing 2,400 birds of about 50 species, temporarily…
Three Washington State Ferry workers were awarded a combined verdict of $1.1M for lung damage resulting from cleaning products and lack of instructions from the Washington State Ferries. The three workers, Tammy Brazeau, Alex Johnson and Natette Lewis, were cleaning a restroom with a substance called Hi ‘N Dry as…
The bodies of two swimmers, a 57-year old male and his 13 year-old nephew, have been recovered from Lake St. Clair near Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday. Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel reported that the two had jumped into the water to go swimming with a 31-year old relative. Their pontoon…
The United States Coast Guard is looking for a 31-year old man who fell overboard early Tuesday morning near Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The individual, whose name has not been released, was working aboard a crabbing vessel about two miles south of Frog Island in Albemarle Sound when he fell…
The United States Coast Guard airlifted a fisherman who sustained a bad cut on a fishing vessel off the coast of Beach Haven, New Jersey on Sunday. The injured fisherman is a 22-year-old mariner who was working aboard the Captain Bob, which was operating 110 miles east of Beach Haven,…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a fisherman’s claim that a verbal agreement to fish the entire season was grounds for recovering “unearned wages” after he became injured. Fisherman Jesse O’Neal signed a contract to work for American Seafoods Company. In the “fine print “,…
Seaman and fishermen do not always work aboard vessels. Sometimes a seaman’s duties require him or her to perform shore side tasks. Unfortunately, injuries do occur to seamen ashore. Well established maritime law requires that the employer must provide the mariner with a safe work environment. Over the years, courts…