On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 02:12:50 -0400, Reef Fish
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I get to follow-up on MYSELF, for a change.  :-)


>On Sun, 14 Oct 2001 21:28:30 -0500, Mike Wallace <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>>On 14 Oct 2001, at 18:34, Don Ward wrote:
>
>Mike, I've already responded to Don (and others) on the same questions
>you raised.
>
>This point deserves re-iteration on MY part:
>
>>That's my take on it too. The Captains of those vessels attempted to
>>make the best of a bad situation.
>
>I don't question that decision one bit.  It had many precedents, and
>the same decision turned out fine for all the OTHER vessels.
>
>But my QUESTION is, in view of the above, whether the Captain and
>crew did everything ELSE properly once they've decided to moor.
>THAT was the crux of my question(s) to try to understand why the
>Wave Dancer capsized and lost 20 lives whereas none of the other
>boats (including the smaller Aggressor) in the same harbor capsized
>or any OTHER life was lost in the entire country of Belize as a
>result of Hurricane Iris's hit.


The fact that the Aggressor had explicit instruction and briefing
to the passengers on what to do and where to gather, on the night
of the Wave Dancer tragedy -- and the Wave Dancer Captain and crew
DIDN'T (but left the passengers wander and fend for themselves)
surely qualified them to be considered "negligent".

Hey, but they are NOT responsible for any injury or death that are
caused by their negligence!  In an ongoing thread in rec.scuba, I
pointed out one of the 20 clauses in said WAIVER:

RF>At the time of booking, you actually had to said a WAIVER AND
RF>RELEASE of the PHD Fleet, relinquishing all rights to claim damages
RF>on YOUR part, even those caused by negligence on the part of the
RF>Fleet and crew, let alone those caused by "Acts of God".  The exact
RF>wording in the WAIVER included:
RF>
RF>"forever, to release, discharge, waive and relinquish, in favor of
RF>the Releasee, any and all claims, demands or causes of action,
RF>... forseen or unforeseen, arising from or in connection with,
RF>any of the Activities, ..., whether caused by negligence of
RF>Releasee or otherwise."

The "injury" this clause covered included "death", i.e., if you dive
on the PhD Fleet and you DIE and it was CAUSED by the negligence of
the Captain or crew, the Fleet is NOT responsible to any and all
claim you may make.  You HAVE to sign that WAIVER before you get on
any PhD vessel.  I did, voluntarily, many, many times.  That's WHY
I am particularly interested in what "negligence" they MIGHT have
exercised, because as long as I am on THEIR vessel, I have to take
care of MYSELF to the best of my ability and know-how.

In the light of all of this, perhaps those who have followed this
thread so far will have understood better my persistent QUESTIONS
to try to get to the bottom of this, to my own satisfaction about
the guilt OR LACK THEREOF, of both passengers and crew, for my OWN
(and I hope those of others) FUTURE reference.

-- Bob.