11.1 Introduction

Marine collision has been one of the most frequent causes of accidents and dangers at sea since time immemorial.1 Collisions of ships were frequent in the time of sailing ships due to the difficulty of manoeuvring them, especially in ports where many ships travelled within a limited geographic area. On the other hand, the consequences of the marine collision were not as grave as today because the ships’ speed was considerably lower while their size was smaller. Their wooden construction, which helped ships maintain a certain level of elasticity, also made them more resistant to shocks.