Well, I have heard of officers being charged with negligence, incompetence, etc. for various maritime accidents. I've heard of officers being RTU (return to unit) for less severe stupidities.

I know of a member of our infantry who, unthinkingly, had a stoppage on a range, went to pickup the ejected casing, and his weapon was across his body (facing thus along the firing line and it was loaded with further live rounds). The Range NCO was on the ball. He got to the idiot, relieved him of his weapon, and knocked him the **** out right then and there (the other legal option for our Range NCO would be to use his sidearm to shoot the idiot when he was endangering other shooters). By accounts, my former boss (PPCLI, served overseas in the Balkans until his Grizzly or LAV (it was a wheeled APC) went rolling down a mountain and busted both his ankles badly) indicated that loose canon (literally) was out of barracks and the service faster than anyone had thought possible (a matter of hours until he was out of the unit).

I know of a 70 ton military launch whose skipper thought he'd show off to the folks on the pier by backing his launch in. That by itself would have been fine *if he had the judgment that you need* to conn a 70 ton vessel.... it has this property called boatloads of dynamic inertia... and he went stern first *into the pier*. There goes your watch standing ticket and your command ticket. Likely get you demoted or ejected from the service.

Even in the civilian world, there can be criminal consequences (oil tankers leaking or exploding vessels will tend to get serious legal pursuit). A lot of the time it will happen in civil court, but if it happened in someone's port or territorial waters, it can get criminal charges too. Watch standers and skippers can lose their tickets and go to jail if the outcome of their negligence or incompetence is serious enough.

TomB

On Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 2:04 AM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
Anyone remember the 'Exxon Valdez' incident?
An oil tanker 'crashed' (ran aground, I believe) while approaching a port in Alaska.
I recall that the capt was allegedly drunk, got canned, & even criminally charged but that case dragged on for years & don't recall ever hearing of a resolution.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday, August 10, 2020, 03:13:32 AM MST, xxxxxx@gmail.com <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:


A lot may depend on where said ship is flagged. Many ships use 'flag of convenience' to some place that has shall we say either less or less enforced standards (much like many US companies locate head offices in a limited number of states - usually just a mailbox - so as to be incorporated where shareholders have less rights). 

I would assume with any reasonable corporation, if any officer of the ship (or the Captain) were found under the influence of alcohol while responsible for the ship - piloting, captaining, etc. - I'd think you'd get your butt kicked out the door. You might even be charged if any such shenanigans happened in anyone's territorial waters as that might be a crime inside various civilized jurisdictions. 

Crew discipline may depend on the corporation - what powers are granted a Captain to fine or dismiss crew?

I think in the RCN, there are rules about when you can consume (usually not within a certain period of time before/after duty) and the amount (a beer, likely not more). Any member of the RCN that showed up to duty under the influence could be charged under our equivalent of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. At the least, if you were enlisted, you could have some black marks in your file and your next promotion would suddenly look very remote. If there was an incident when you were inebriated on duty, you might be cashiered or be sent to Edmonton (military prison) or to face Federal Charges if it happened within Canadian Waters (depending on the particulars). As an Officer, you might be charged, again promotion goes far away, and you could face Federal charges. And a serious breach could get you cashiered. Rank reductions could happen too. 

For our CG, I'm assuming you might face administrative punishment (for the presence of a still or some such) but as ours is a Civilian organization that does a lot of rescue work, it might well get you kicked out of the CG. 

For companies, it would very much depend on the ship's ownership and flagging. I have concerns about many ships operating under flags of convenience because there is little rigorous checking. This has led to accidents in past. 

There are generally recognized 'laws of the sea' and some international agreements on same. On the other hand, enforcement would be the purview of those with Navies or Coast Guard or other sorts of LE that would choose to pursue a particular case. 

On the one hand, just having booze... not so serious. 
Drinking it off duty... not so serious unless your ship is dry and there is a tea-totaller culture. 
Distilling... more of an issue (like intent to distribute or some such). 
An accident or serious safety incident while members of a ship's company or Captain were under the influence - that's where ranks, promotions, and careers can go away and that's before any criminal investigations (depending on the jurisdiction the incident happened in, the flag of the ship involved, and anybody nearby who has the power to enforce a boarding and arrest). 

TomB

On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 5:52 AM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:
You know, this just occurred to me;

Are there any rules &/or regulations governing the Merchant Marine here in the USA, or anywhere else?

Does anyone know how that's handled on civilian ships?
(Well I guess we all DO know how 'cruise lines' handle it for passengers bu what about the crew?)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Friday, August 7, 2020, 09:11:04 AM MST, xxxxxx@gmail.com <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:


That's a great encounter for any small ship! Well done!

"Petty Officer McNeely, I heard that the Navy recently discontinued several well-loved traditions. Damn shame, I must say. I cannot imagine what sort of bureaucrat was behind such absurdity. Traditions are what keep the spirit in our Navy and we want that, don't we? Damn shame.

Unrelatedly, we have a pantry and a sideboard in our galley which happen, by odd circumstance, to have not had a count nor correct accounting of contents for years now... I guess we just never have the time or energy. Sometimes things just seem to disappear, even whole bottles of fine spirits, or so it seems. This is such a regular occurance aboard, we just don't worry about it... it's just absorbed in our gross margins. A few bottles here or there is hardly anything to make a fuss over, now is it?"



On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 10:36 AM Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:


In the light of this discussion, I thought TML might like this from The Times and its Diary (i.e. slightly light hearted pieces rather than serious news) section 1.8.20:

A rum deal for sailors
The Royal navy has been sober for exactly 50 years.  Since the final pouring of the daily rum ration on July 31,1970, alcohol has never passed a sailor's lips on duty.  Well, hardly ever.  It is surprising it lasted so long.  The Admiralty's wonderfully named Grog Committee proposed banning the daily tot, equal to two doubles, way back in 1850.  In a Commons debate on the abolition 120 years later, one James Wellbeloved, a Labour MP, argued that, far from impeding performance, a glass of rum helped to stabilise a sailor's stomach in stormy waters.  Despite Wellbeloved offering "sippers or gulpers" to any MP who backed him, his attempt to block the ban was scuttled by the government.


OB TRAV: The PCs' ship is searched for possible contraband by an Imperial Navy ship the day after a centuries old grog ration has been abolished.  The 'boys in blue' are not happy and the words 'fine toothcomb' can be heard from the officer commanding the search team.  Any enterprising Captain who can drum up a rum ration in the guise of Mother's Medicinal Emolument to offer quietly to the ratings aboard will find the search of their ship goes like a breeze...

tc





Virus-free. www.avast.com

On Thu, 30 Jul 2020 at 16:57, <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
I wondered why Tom's proof was less than 2 x ABV as it would be now in US and Canada. I'd expect 54.6% ABV  to be 109 Proof.

I found this historical mess to explain:



On Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 11:44 Thomas RUX, <xxxxxx@comcast.net> wrote:
Hello Phil,

On 07/30/2020 2:04 AM Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:


Anyone have any idea what the recipe for mixing 'grog' was?
How about the 'proof' rating?


The rum ration or "tot", consisted of one-eighth of an imperial pint (70ml) of rum at 95.5 proof (54.6% ABV). Senior ratings (petty officers and above) received their rum neat, whilst for junior ratings it was diluted with two parts of water to make three-eighths of an imperial pint (213 ml) of grog.

Tom Rux

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com



--
Timothy Collinson
Faculty Librarian (Technology)
University of Portsmouth
Cambridge Road
Portsmouth
PO1 2ST

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://archives.simplelists.com

-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=RDHE7iRpfwqlHvVvWBIhpJZsbTiD5NnL