Danae Shipping Corpn. of Monrovia v. Guven Turkish Insurance Co. Ltd. (The Daffodil B) - Q.B.D. (Com.Ct.) (Lloyd J.) - 21 December 1982

Whether vessel’s deviation “reasonable” after diesel generator failure

The plaintiffs owned the Daffodil B , a vessel of 13,248 nrt. The defendants owned a cargo of fuel oil which was being carried from Milazzo, Sicily to Rotterdam. A few hours after leaving Milazzo the vessel suffered a diesel generator breakdown and the master was ordered to change course to discharge in Tutunciftlik, Turkey, at the eastern end of the Dardanelles. After communications between the owners’ agents in Athens and the master as to how the generator repairs were to be carried out, it was decided that the safest course would be for a repair team to come on board the vessel. After some discussion as to whether Pylos or Lavrion was the most convenient port of call, Captain G., a Port Captain employed by the owners’ agents in Athens, ordered the vessel to Lavrion, a small port on the east coast of Greece.