Treating mariners as criminals..

[nolatom]

Seems to be happening everywhere, including in the U.S:

Judge plans to let half of bay spill crew return to China - EarthLink - U.S. News

These crewmembers are being held as "material witnesses", presumably against the pilot of the Cosco Busan. Had their own employers not ponied up and given them hotel accommodations, they'd have been detained in jail.

I know this concerns merchant mariners, and therefore of marginal interest to recreational sailors, but it seems that more offenses (especially oil spills, no matter how caused or who "did" it) are automatically crimes, and everyone on board initially treated as criminals, with some able to go home after a long time, and some detained for years.

Venezuela, S. Korea, and yes, the U.S, among many others. I like a clean environment as well as the next guy, but why would any reasonable person seek a seagoing career these days? I'm not talking about intentional discharges, but flat-out accidents. Federal prosecutors rightly pursue the former, but then can't seem to resist pursuing the latter.

[sailaway21]

Currently there are over 100 persons charged in the Cosco Busan allision, most of them "John Doe"'s to this point. Note that the charges are not being made in Admiralty. The Master and owners of the Cosco Busan are liable for the allision and it's results, the pilot acts as an advisor. This is, of course, of little interest in a litigious atmosphere.

The detention of uncharged and possibly unculpable mariners is highly disturbing. A former shipmate was held in Turkey for well over a year on charges of murder. He was only released upon signing an affidavit that he'd return for eventual trial. The crime? A lonshoreman was struck and killed by a container during cargo operations. As Chief Officer, in charge of cargo ops, the mariner was held liable. This is contrary to Admiralty law as the vessel herself, her owner, and Master assume liability for the events assosciated with the vessel.

As Tom rightly point out, the eagerness to charge everyone is sight has serious consequences, not the least on trade. An unwillingness to allow the Admiralty process take place before making civil charges of a state and federal nature can do nothing to either get to the bottom of the matter nor produce either a reduction is such incidents or a timely assignation of responsibility.

Those professional mariners who do not carry license insurance would be strongly advised to rethink that decision. One million dollars of coverage might be viewed as a barely adequate policy for a junior officer.

[sailaway21]

Some perspectives on the matter.
Cosco Busan Crew Detainment - Commentary by John Denham | gCaptain.com

Not Being John Cota | gCaptain.com

Those interested in such matters will find the blog gcaptain of great interest. There's currently a video available their showing what happened to all those Mazda cars that were cargo on board the Cougar Ace. gCaptain.com | A Blog About Ships

[LittleMissMagic]

This is a disturbing trend for sure! The point I would like to make though is the complete double standard where environmental laws are concerned. About two weeks ago in Bayou Casotte near Pascagoula, MS. I was witness to a major release of No. 1 crude by a Chevron tanker docked at the refinery. A large amount of oil was released. (The exact amount is unclear, oil was released while the ship was off ballasting.)The entire bayou was covered with a sheen.
I never saw anything on the news, in a paper, or anywhere, concerning this spill. According to the grapevine, (and I am privy to gossip by several bar pilots and coast guard types)the coast guard never even bothered to respond.
This is really no big deal because Chevron's response was quick and the cleanup was very efficient. But why the duality here? Why are we jailing foreign nationals in one part of the country for an accident, when in other places it is just dealt with accordingly. Shouldn't we as a country care about the mariners that are a big component of our international trade? It is outrageous that these sailors are even being held. Especially when this kind of thing happens outside of California all the time without all of the media and political hype.

[BenthosCritter]

Eventually the USCG will regulate the US merchant marine out of business. This seems to be their ultimate goal and they are doing a great job of it. They already make it extremely difficult for employers to find qualified crew. One Third Mate I know spent around $10,000 to go to various schools to get various certificates to renew his license.

All that was needed was to interview on videotape the crew of Cosco Busan as to what happened and send them home within a week of the accident.