Let us imagine that an oil tanker has gone aground on a rocky coastline in Northwest Europe. The first thing that is likely to concern the master is the safety of the personnel on board the ship. Although safety of the ship and cargo will often go hand-in-hand with safety of life, the latter must always take precedence. Any decision which the master takes will, of course, have important legal and other consequences for him and those likely to be affected by the decision. For instance, it may affect the question of whether or not his licence is suspended or revoked, and it may affect the chances of any legal action by third parties (e.g. the dependents of a crewman killed as a result) against himself or his company. In two recent cases (the Andros Patria and the Master Michael, the former off Finisterre on Dec. 31, 1978, and the latter off Haiti the next day) taking to the boats was followed by heavy loss of life, although that does not imply that in the circumstances the decision to do so was wrong. By contrast, in the Amoco Cadiz case off Ushant on Mar. 11, 1978, evacuation by helicopter meant that no one lost their life.

One must remember that the decisions which the master must take will have to be taken by a man who may, at that moment, be completely ruined in his own eyes. He may have before him the prospect that every one of his colleagues and all his friends and family will know that it was the ship under his command that went aground. He may already realise that he has personally made a terrible mistake which has led to the grounding and which may mean that his career is ruined. The fact that the lives of those on board are now directly in his hands may weigh heavily upon him. It is in this context that one must view the various proposals for change discussed below.

If one assumes that there is no immediate danger to personnel, the master’s next concern is for the ship and cargo. Nowadays, the master of an oil tanker must inevitably be concerned also to avoid oil pollution. Not only may he face criminal charges if oil is spilled,1 but the civil liability of the ship’s owners is likely to be strict. So, one option which might be open to the master or owner (or salvor) of a dry cargo ship, namely the jettison of cargo, is in practice available only as a last resort when the