Opinion ID: 456170
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Captain Liu's Reliance on the Pilots

Text: 63 The district court found that Captain Liu was negligent in relying on the pilots and failing to remonstrate with them. The IMCO rules 10 and recommendations which were binding on the crew of the SUMMIT VENTURE provided: Navigation with Pilot Embarked 64 Despite the duties and obligations of a pilot, his presence on board does not relieve the master or officer in charge of the watch from their duties or obligations for the safety of the ship. The master and pilot shall exchange information regarding navigation procedures, local conditions and the ship's characteristics. 65 Furthermore, the Supreme Court in The China, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 53, 67-68, 19 L.Ed. 67 (1869) noted: 66 It is the duty of the master to interfere in cases of the pilot's intoxication or manifest incapacity, in cases of danger which he does not foresee, and in all cases of great necessity. The master has the same power to displace the pilot that he has to remove any subordinate officer of the vessel. He may exercise it, or not, according to his discretion. (footnote omitted) (emphasis added). 67 The district court found unequivocably that the circumstances surrounding the approach to the bridge made out such a case of great necessity that it was blatant negligence on the part of Captain Liu to allow the ship to proceed under the control of Pilot Lerro after Captain Liu became aware or should have become aware of the inevitable risk of accident. Indeed, Captain Liu testified that he had been concerned about the safety of the vessel for approximately ten minutes before the allision. Moreover, while on paper, the shipowner followed the IMCO rules and recommendations, the evidence showed that the actual practice of the company was to permit all navigational decisions to be made by a pilot when on board and that the master could only relieve the pilot if he was acting in a drunken or crazy manner. According to Port Captain Chaing the shipowner's policy was that the pilot is in command and in charge. Accordingly, the district court found that Captain Liu's adherence to the company's policy constituted negligence when he relinquished to Pilot Lerro his responsibility for the safety of the ship. 68 Chief Mate Chan, who later went forward to monitor the anchor watch, testified that he believed the SUMMIT VENTURE should have anchored at buoy 16. However, he said nothing to Pilot Lerro about his concerns. The district court found that because of the company's unwritten policy against interfering with compulsory pilots that neither Chief Mate Chan nor Captain Liu realized that when a vessel is being piloted by a compulsory pilot that the master and officers of the vessel are not relieved of their ultimate responsibility to insure the safety of the vessel. 11 This misunderstanding as to ultimate responsibility is most obvious in the case of Chief Mate Chan who thought the vessel should have been anchored at buoy 16 but did not think he had the authority to either discuss anchoring with the pilot or in fact anchor over the objections of the pilot if he concluded that the ship was in a dangerous situation. 69 The appellant's principal defense is based upon testimony of Captain Liu that as captain of the ship he had authority to give an order to the pilot and that no one from the company had ever told him that the pilot was in command of the ship when he was aboard. Captain Liu further testified that he would principally rely on the pilot but that in the final analysis the captain had the final responsibility and that if the pilot was doing something wrong, he should overrule him. 70 However, there was conflicting testimony by Captain Liu at deposition and at trial concerning his understanding of his authority to question or overrule Pilot Lerro. At deposition, Captain Liu stated that he was concerned about the ship's position for ten minutes prior to the allision but that he gave no consideration whatsoever to stopping his vessel because he thought it was a one-man show, referring to the fact that the pilot had total control of the ship. (TB 147-148). At trial Captain Liu stated he did not think he had the authority to say I want to stop and anchor the vessel to the pilot or to anyone else. (TL at 104). Furthermore, Port Captain Chaing, the company officer in charge of insuring that the IMCO regulations were followed, testified on numerous occasions in his deposition that the pilot was in command of the ship. While this interpretation is completely contrary to the IMCO rules and the company's written regulations, the evidence showed that Port Captain Chaing's interpretation was, in actual practice, the rule suggested and followed by the company's officers. 71 Hercules insists that the district court made inconsistent findings regarding Captain Liu's comprehension of the company policy toward compulsory pilots, and that given Captain Liu's admitted comprehension of official company policy, the court was precluded from finding the owners were in privity with the negligence resulting from Captain Liu's failure to remonstrate with the pilots. 72 The passages from the district court opinion cited by Hercules read: 73 The testimony of Captain Liu shows clearly that he understood that both the law and the company policy allowed him to discuss areas of concern with the pilots, and that he had the power to overrule or relieve pilots. 74 Hercules, 566 F.Supp. at 974. 75 Further, the evidence shows, and I so find, that petitioner has failed to demonstrate that the company's policy whereby the pilot, rather than the master, was in ultimate command of the vessel was without its privity and knowledge. 76 Hercules, 566 F.Supp. at 979. 77 These two passages when read within the entire context of the opinion do not reflect inconsistent findings by the district court. They demonstrate the basis for the district court's ruling that Captain Liu ignored the written company policy in favor of the inconsistent, unwritten company policy to defer to a pilot who is navigating. The evidence adduced at trial and through deposition clearly demonstrated that Captain Liu had adopted the unwritten company policy as his own official operating policy. 78 Having reviewed the entire testimony on this subject and given the blatant negligence of Captain Liu and Chief Mate Chan in failing to intervene when both had serious concerns over the safety of the vessel, we find that the trial court was correct in concluding that the failure of Captain Liu and Chief Mate Chan to intervene was proximately related to the allision and that their failure to intervene resulted from the unwritten policy of the company to defer completely to the pilot on board. 79