The boat was listing and had no propulsion of its own. It was large enough that Jefferds, co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish, feared the vessel, the Deep Sea, might slip its mooring and swing into his company's mussel rafts or even the Coupeville dock.

"Everybody in our company and around here saw this as a potential problem from the get-go," Jefferds said Tuesday.

Nearly five months later, the Deep Sea did worse than Jefferds had feared. It has spewed a 1 ½-mile-long diesel sheen after catching fire and sinking to the bottom of the 60-foot-deep cove Sunday, about one-quarter mile from the mussel farm.

Despite efforts to contain the sheen, state health regulators on Tuesday closed Penn Cove to commercial and tribal harvests of the prized mussels. Jefferds estimates his company lost $50,000 in one day; the total loss depends on pending toxicity tests.

The man-made debacle has state regulators defending their handling of the derelict vessel. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which manages state ownership of the seabed where the Deep Sea was anchored, has issued nearly $5,000 in fines to the Deep Sea's owner since mid-March, for trespass violations.

But the agency did not have the vessel towed out of the ecologically sensitive cove, as it has the power to do, and as Jefferds had requested.

"The question is, tow it where, and what cost? Who is going to take a boat that size and in that condition? And who would pay for that?" DNR spokeswoman Toni Droscher asked.

Rory Westmoreland, 49, of Renton, bought the Deep Sea from the Port of Seattle in November for $2,500, according to state records.

Westmoreland could not be reached for comment, but he told the Whidbey Examiner in March that he owned a Renton scrap yard and envisioned using the Deep Sea to scavenge for recyclable materials. The state fines, and costs to repair the vessel, altered his plans.

"I still wish I could do something with it," he told the Examiner. "I hate to give up the boat. It has a lot of potential."

The FV Deep Sea, built in Tacoma in 1947, was celebrated on its maiden voyage in a Time magazine story. It was described in The Seattle Times as the "first American vessel built to process and pack frozen fish at sea," while dragging trawl nets for king crab from waters as far as the Siberian coast.

How it came to be sold by the Port of Seattle is unclear. The Deep Sea appeared on DNR's list of abandoned or derelict vessels, but its listed location was the Port-owned Fisherman's Terminal.

Droscher said the boat appears to have been sold via a broker after it was not purchased at an auction. The Port of Seattle did not return a call late Tuesday.

The Deep Sea caught fire late Saturday. Despite efforts by the Coast Guard and a local fire district, it sank at about 6 p.m. Sunday.

Westmoreland later told authorities it had held between 60 and 100 gallons of diesel fuel, according to the state Department of Ecology. Containment booms, in three concentric rings, were placed in a relatively small area above the sunken vessel.

By Tuesday, though, the Coast Guard reported more than 2,100 gallons were recovered, and the diesel plume had escaped containment. Divers reported 1 or 2 gallons of fuel leaking per minute before a rupture was plugged. More fuel still could be aboard, Droscher said.

The Coast Guard, unable to persuade Westmoreland to pay for spill containment, tapped a contingency fund to hire skimmers and a Ballard marine-salvage firm. A spokesman said the Coast Guard will bill Westmoreland for costs, estimated to be well into six figures.

State and federal environmental fines, as well as potential criminal charges, also are possible. State and federal authorities planned to meet Wednesday.

Mark Toy, an environmental engineer for the state Department of Ecology, said shellfish would be tested for both taste and toxicity before Penn Cove could reopen to harvesting.

"I don't know how someone would take a vessel into an area like that," Toy said.

Droscher, of DNR, said her agency had contacted Westmoreland about two dozen times since the Deep Sea first was anchored in Penn Cove. Westmoreland told DNR that he'd planned to tow the boat to Port Townsend in August, but DNR found no evidence to support those plans, Droscher said.

Westmoreland also claimed at one point to have sold the vessel, delivering a handwritten bill of sale to DNR, she said.

But DNR contacted the potential buyer, who said he had backed out, and DNR found no record that the title was ever transferred.

Jefferds, of Penn Cove Shellfish, said he believes harvests will be down for up to two weeks, a blow to one of the largest private employers on Whidbey Island. Some of the 63 employees have been shifted to the company's Quilcene operation in Jefferson County.

What Jefferds fears most are the words "toxicity" and "Penn Cove mussels" in the same news story.

"It's taken 30 years to build up a brand based on good, clean water," he said. "Now we have to make sure we tell our customers we're cleaning it up, and the product hasn't been contaminated.

Story sourced from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018215487_penncove16m.html

This is the type of situation in which the victim may be entitled to recover against the property owner on a premises liability claim. Commercial property owners that hold their premises open to the public, like Wal-Mart, owe a heightened duty of care to their customers. The presence of a rattlesnake in the outdoor garden department likely does not, in and of itself, show that Wal-Mart breached its duty of care, but an investigation into the circumstances that led to the snake bite may reveal other relevant facts. For example, did Wal-Mart employees know the snake was in the garden department and continue to allow shoppers to have access to the area where it was located? Had there been problems in the past with snakes entering the outdoor garden department area? Answers to questions like these would help to determine whether a commercial property owner is liable for injuries on their premises.

A man was rescued from a 30-foot motor boat that went up in flames Thursday morning as it floated in the placid blue waters between Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula. The fire broke out about 6:45 a.m. after the man piloted his boat, the "Liberty Call," out of the Brownsville Marina and was heading through Agate Passage, said a North Kitsap Fire Department spokesperson. A friend was following behind in another boat and was able to rescue the man as flames spread through the vessel. But the man was unable to get his dog off the boat, and it died in the blaze. The fire continued burning for some time before crews were able to reach it. Aerial footage shot by KOMO's Air 4 showed the blaze burning fiercely and a tall column of smoke rising above it as it drifted through Agate Passage. The boat has continued drifting since northward the fire. It is still smoking, but the fire appears to be out. The vessel is considered a total loss.

Recreational boating accidents are the most common cause of maritime injury and death. The National Transportation Safety Board reports that 672 lives were lost in recreational boating accidents in 2010 as opposed to a total of 61 lost in cargo transport, commercial fishing, and commercial passengers combined. It is unclear if the man in this story suffered any physical injuries. However, this case provides an example of where a boater may have a claim against a third party for damages suffered in the blaze. The facts currently available do not make clear what caused the fire, but where a vessel spontaneously bursts into flames, it is generally wise to investigate the cause to determine if there were any defective parts that caused the fire. If the fire was caused by defective parts or equipment, the boater may be entitled to recovery against the manufacturer.

For more information on this story see http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Man-rescued-from-burning-boat-near-Bainbridge-3549000.php

Under circumstances like these, Washington's worker's comp insurance generally covers the medical costs and a portion of an injured worker's lost wages. However, L&I does not cover the entirety of the injured worker's damages. In exchange for our worker's comp scheme, injured workers are prohibited from bringing suit against their employers for negligence.

It is unclear from the facts available in this story whether there is a third party that may potentially be liable for the man's injuries, but this story provides an illustration for the type of situation in which an injured worker may have a claim against a third party. Where equipment used on the job is defective and causes an injury, there is often a claim against the manufacturer of the equipment. Such a claim is not barred by worker's comp. An injured worker who prevails on such a product liability claim would generally be entitled to recover the balance of their lost wages not paid by L&I, damages for pain and suffering, and other damages.

Yesterday, days into a federal wrongful death trial that was expected to last a month, a $17 million settlement was reached with the surviving families of two killed and others injured on a Ride the Ducks tour in Philadelphia. The families of two Hungarian students killed will split $15 million and eighteen surviving passengers will share in $2 million in the deal.

The Hungarian students, whose group was visiting the U.S. through a church exchange program, drowned when their amphibious sightseeing boat was slammed by an empty sludge barge and capsized on July 7, 2010. Their families filed wrongful-death lawsuits against K-Sea Transportation, of East Brunswick, N.J., which operated the tugboat guiding the barge upriver, and Ride the Ducks, of Norcross, Ga., which operated the tour boat. The tug pushed the 250-foot-long barge into and over the 33-foot-long Duck as it sat idle and anchored in an active shipping lane along its route, sending 37 people into the river about 150 feet from the Philadelphia shoreline. Survivors were pulled from the murky water by firefighters, a passing ferry boat and bystanders who swam from shore. In a video shown on the first day of the trial Monday, one of the students killed could be seen throwing a life jacket to a deckhand who jumped from the boat seconds before the collision and survived. The families of the victims argued the boat companies were rife with unclear safety policies and ineffective training and procedures that caused the crash. K-Sea Transportation and Ride the Ducks blamed each other and the tug pilot who was sentenced in November to a year in prison for the crash. The tug pilot was on his cell phone amid a family emergency, moved to a part of the tug that blocked his view of the river and turned down a marine radio, stifling mayday calls before the allision. He pleaded guilty to the maritime equivalent of involuntary manslaughter.

With the backdrop of the multi-million dollar settlement in Philadelphia hitting the national stage, a motorcyclist injured by a Ride the Ducks tour in Seattle filed suit on Wednesday. The victim and his motorcycle were run over and dragged by a Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle loaded with tourists in downtown Seattle last October. If not for pedestrians who witnessed the collision and screamed at the Duck driver while pounding on the sides of the boat, the motorcyclist believes he could have been dragged for blocks, instead of yards.

The Oct. 10 incident is the third since December 2010 involving Ducks rear-ending other vehicles that had been stopped at stop lights, according to Seattle police collision reports. On Dec. 31, 2010, and again last June 11, different Duck drivers rear-ended passenger vehicles, the first at Third Avenue and Pike Street and the second at Aurora Avenue North and Denny Way. No one was injured but both Duck drivers told officers they didn't see the cars because of the height of their own vehicles.

The case filed Wednesday raises issues of the appropriateness of the Duck tour vehicles, originally built for military use, on city streets due their huge hulls and faulty sightlines which make them a hazard to other vehicles. Duck drivers are expected to play "tour guide and entertainer" from behind the wheel, creating even more of a danger given the size and maneuverability of the half-bus-half-boat vehicles.

Although these two cases both involved injuries caused by Ride the Ducks, they show an important distinction between maritime and terrestrial law. For example, the suit arising out of the Philadelphia allision on navigable waters was brought in admiralty and the victims and surviving families of those killed had the benefit of certain maritime laws, potentially in addition to state law. In contrast, the suit filed yesterday in Seattle does not arise out of events occurring in the water segment of the Duck tour and thus will not have the benefit of maritime law. Rather, the plaintiff's remedies will likely be found under state law.

It was reported that the grounding occurred due to the operator of the vessel falling asleep while transitioning. Fatigue among seamen is a leading cause of maritime injuries. As a result, there are strict Coast Guard regulations prohibiting those piloting vessels from working more than a set number of hours, usually a 12 hours in any 24-hour period. In this case it is unclear from reports what injuries the rescued fishermen suffered or whether the operator's fatigue was caused by a statutory violation. However, where crewmembers are fatigued due to having worked more than the time permitted, and injuries result from their fatigue, the vessel owner is generally liable for the resulting injuries.

The Port of Tacoma and the City of Tacoma bypassed two lower bidders who would have constructed the new fireboat in Western Washington. At least one of those local boat builders, Northwind Marine of Seattle, is puzzled why taxpayer money was used to create jobs in Canada especially when the boat could have been built less expensively locally.

Port of Tacoma spokeswoman Tara Mattina said neither the country where the boat would be built nor the dollar amount of the bids was a consideration in deciding which bidder got the job. Three port and city employees ranked the four responding bidders and their products based on their responses to a request for proposals the port issued nearly two years ago. Among the criteria were vessel reliability, builder qualifications, warranties, training for boat operators and mechanics, the vessel's quality and ease of use and the proposed delivery schedule. Each of the three evaluators could award up to 100 points to each bidder. Those combined scores put Canada's Metalcraft at the top with a score of 268. Port Angeles' Armstrong Marine was second with 227 points, Canada's Hike Marine was third with 213 and Northwind a distant fourth with just 63 points.

The good news for the state is that the Grand Alliance will still call in Washington. The bad: The state's two biggest ports are largely fighting each other for existing business rather than adding much. For example, in 2009, Maersk Lines moved from Tacoma to Seattle.

Seattle is North America's seventh-biggest container port; Tacoma ranks No. 11 and is soon to rise. Both are critical elements for one of America's most trade-dependent states. The ports generally earn revenues from tenants that operate terminals and lease space, as well as from tax-levy dollars usually used for general obligation debt or infrastructure and transportation.

Talk in parts of the industry suggests that Tacoma put in such an extremely low bid to win the Grand Alliance that its terminal operator, Washington United Terminals, and ultimately the port, might not make money on the deal. Seattle's private terminal operators likely don't have the ability to match the low costs of their counterparts in Tacoma, at least for now. Jobs will be lost with the Grand Alliance move.

Some advantages Tacoma has drawing business from the Port of Seattle include excess capacity and dockside rail service, eliminating the nonunion, short-haul trucking of Seattle. Dockside rail is less expensive, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly.

Tacoma is primarily a seaport, focused on that business, unlike Seattle with diverse operations including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and cruise facilities. Tacoma's port is separated from the urban core and faces no pushback from waterfront gentrification.

Advantages of the Port of Seattle are that it is built out with advanced infrastructure to handle the biggest ships. Major rail yards, such as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Seattle International Gateway, are close to the docks and have state-of-the-art gantry cranes to transfer containers. Port officials say the congestion in places such as Harbor Island will be short-lived.

Beneath this rivalry is one harsh reality: Puget Sound ports have been slowly losing market share against most of their West Coast rivals since the mid-2000s.

In early 2015, a wider Panama Canal will allow Asian shippers, which account for more than 90 percent of Washington's container traffic, to send more goods directly to the East Coast.

Canada's two big railroads have bought and consolidated American rail lines to make it easier to send goods from Canadian ports to the U.S. Midwest, the bread-and-butter market of Puget Sound imports. Of special concern is Prince Rupert, closest to Asia, heavily subsidized by the Canadian government and with a rail straight shot to Chicago and beyond.

The Port of Los Angeles, which already has a coveted home market of 13 million consumers, recently committed to spending $3 billion for terminal, rail and other infrastructure.

All of these changes will undoubtedly impact Washington's maritime industry. Seattle Times columnist Jon Talton suggests that the ports of Seattle and Tacoma consolidate so that they can together fight for market share, bringing more jobs to Washington, rather than wasting their energy fighting each other for business.

For Talton's complete article see http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/jontalton/2018127187_biztaltoncol06.html

Last month Aluminum Boats Australia entered into a 30-day due diligence period with the Port of Bellingham to lease a 30,000-square-foot site at the Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park, near the Bellingham Cruise Terminal. According to a press release from the port, Aluminum Boats Australia officials said Bellingham was its first choice, but that the inability to directly launch vessels the size the company builds from that site added "insurmountable costs" to the business. Protection of sensitive salmon habitat and tidelands alongside the industrial park restricts the port from building a launch facility at that site.

The company found a site in Anacortes with direct launch capabilities, but is delaying its expansion until it secures a new business contract.

The company manufactures 80-to-100-foot catamaran-style boats used for tourism and passenger ferries, among other things. It expects to have a work force of 25 people that could be larger if things go well.

The Ryou-Un Maru, dubbed the "Ghost Ship," marks the beginning of what is likely to be a substantial amount of debris from the Tsunami reaching the west coast of North America. The Japanese government estimated that the tsunami swept about 5 million tons of debris into the ocean, but that 70 percent sank off shore, leaving 1.5 million tons floating. There no estimate of how much debris is still floating today. Many variables affect where the debris will go and when. Items will sink, disperse, and break up along the way, and winds and ocean currents constantly change, making it very difficult to predict an exact date and location for the debris' arrival on our shores. A new NOAA modeling effort shows that some buoyant items may have reached the Pacific Northwest coast during winter 2011-2012. The bulk of the debris is likely still dispersed north of the Main Hawaiian Islands and east of Midway Atoll. Scientific forecasting models are only sophisticated guesses, so estimates vary as to debris arrival times, locations, and quantities.

What is clear, however, is that eventually our coast will be hit with some amount of debris from the Tsunami. As we move forward, some plan of action will need to be put in place to address the environmental impact on our shores and potential navigational hazards imposed by the debris.

Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Mark Begich, D-Alaska, have said that tsunami debris spotted off islands in the Gulf of Alaska is a "wake up call" that the federal government must immediately work out an action plan to spot and predict what is coming and give coastal towns time to react. Pilots are reporting floats, buoys, insulation and plastics in the vicinity of Montague and Kayak Islands at opposite ends of the entrance to Prince William Sound. "We know the tsunami debris is on its way to our coast," said Cantwell. "We cannot be caught by surprise: We need clear answers and the best science available to protect Washington's billion-dollar coastal economy." Senator Begich said, "I urge the Obama Administration to respond to our request from several weeks ago to free up funds and resources so we can effectively deal with debris and not be scrambling when this arrives." Cantwell and Begich want the National Science Foundation to give instructions on tracking debris crossing the ocean from Japan's March 2011 quake and tidal wave. Cantwell has asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also to work with towns along the Washington and Oregon coasts, which are home to fishing fleets, refineries, working ports and recreation.

No one was injured, and a harbor patrol boat managed to tow a half-dozen other boats away from the fire to protect them, said Kyle Moore, Seattle Fire Department spokesman.

The fire call came in at 1:10 a.m., and crews fought the fire with two hoses from shore-each pumping 300 gallons a minute, and a fire boat-pumping 800 gallons a minute. The harbor patrol boat also put water on the yacht. In addition, fire-suppressing foam was put on the boat.

The boat is the Safari Spirit, part of Seattle-based American Safari Cruises, which operates four yachts on Alaska cruises.

"It just couldn't get that fire knocked down," Moore said, estimating that flames continued to engulf the yacht until about 5 a.m. It continues to burn this morning and likely will do so for several hours.

Moore said the boat's owner and its engineer were asleep when they heard a popping sound.

At first, it wasn't clear whether anyone was still on the yacht. So firefighters made sure everyone was off, then took a defense approach to the blaze.

A 45-foot response boat from Coast Guard Station Seattle is enforcing a 200-yard safety zone around the terminal and assisted in deploying containment and absorbent boom in the area to mitigate impact to the environment.

According to the American Safari Cruises website, the Safari Spirit was scheduled to leave Friday on a 15-day Alaska cruise from Seattle to Juneau and back.

For more information and a video of the blaze see http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Watch-Dramatic-fire-destroys-yacht-at-3515485.php

The crew of the Steven-Scott contacted the Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Command Center at 2:40 p.m., Wednesday, reporting that the man was last seen at approximately 1:30 p.m. and that he may have gone overboard.

The Coast Guard broadcast an urgent alert to all mariners in the area and dispatched a motor life boat, a response boat, two patrol boats, and a helicopter to the area, searching 775 square miles.

At the time the Coast Guard believes the man fell overboard, the Steven-Scott was in three- to five-foot seas approximately nine miles nine miles south of Newport, R.I. A spokesman described the conditions as "a little bit kicked up" with water temperatures of about 52 degrees.

The New York-based tugboat remained in the area, while another tugboat relieved it of its tow-a barge carrying 45,000 barrels of jet fuel.

"The Coast Guard conducted a thorough search with multiple assets through the night, but unfortunately they did not yield new information," said Petty Officer 1st Class Joaquin Alayola, a search and rescue controller at the 1^st Coast Guard District in Boston.

This is the third boat-related drowning to which the Coast Guard has responded since April 1.

Seamen injured on the job are often entitled to recovery under the Jones Act, the doctrine of seaworthiness, and maintenance and cure. The surviving family members of seamen lost at sea may be entitled to recovery under the Jones Act, the Death On The High Seas Act, or state law for the wrongful death of their loved one.

For more information about this story see http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2012/04/coast-guard-searches-for-tugboat-crew-member-who-went-overboard-off-rhode-island/FFNQlxh0ZZsC4a0oWpxOkL/index.html or http://www.d1.uscgnews.com/go/doc/778/1409451/

Firefighters and hazardous materials teams got the call just before 10 a.m. that people were complaining of headaches and nausea inside the college building at 906 S.E. Everett Mall Way, said Eric Hicks with the Everett Fire Department.

Ten of those affected were taken to a hospital. About 200 were evacuated from the building.

An industrial hygenist swept the building Wednesday afternoon and found an uptick of ethol alcohol, which was within safety limits, in one of the medical training labs, the building manager said. But firefighters and people inside didn't know what they were dealing with when people started falling ill.

The school has a dental class, but there is no lab that would have gases or hazardous materials. The school was closed for the remainder of the day.

The building manager said the industrial hygenist cleared the building and didn't find any problems. The building is being ventilated and is expected to reopen this morning.

People injured due to the negligent upkeep of public or private institutions may be entitled to recovery for their injuries. In many situations where there is a release of poisonous fumes, there is negligence at play.

For more information see http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Fumes-make-dozen-people-sick-at-Everett-college-3509723.php#ixzz1tA6osYKe and http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/ten-sickened-fumes-everest-college-everett/nMhh7/