The owners of the ship ‘Pelopidas’ v The owners of the ship ‘TRSL Concord’ - QBD (Admlty Ct)(David Steel J sitting with nautical assessors) - 7 October 1999

Evidence - Expert evidence on matters of seamanship - Practice of Admiralty Court

In this collision action the judge said that both parties had engaged the services of a large range of experts, and that in the event, the residual differences of opinion had been of a very small compass. The parties and the Court had derived valuable assistance from the expert evidence. Hydrodynamic phenomena had played a significant role, and the black box data had provided a wealth of material for expert analysis of the likely track of one of the vessels. But nonetheless, there had been certain features of the expert evidence which had given the Court cause for concern, and from which lessons had to be learned.