Responsibility and Accountability in Maritime Law: The Criminalisation of the Ship’s Master

The criminalisation of seafarers has been observed as a growing phenomenon for more than forty years, presenting a picture of increasing liability upon the Master even though their responsibilities remain essentially unchanged in generations of maritime law. Because of the demand by society to find someone to blame for environmental and human loss, there is a constant flow of cases, which serve to confirm the phenomenon but offer no solutions to defend the innocent. The structure of the maritime environment in which they work has changed dramatically, as evidenced by the complex evolution of fleet ownership and management, leaving the Master with diminished management influence. This book has been written in a format which meets the needs of lawyers, academics and maritime professionals, with the aim to analyse the character of criminalisation to determine the features which characterise the phenomenon in Port and Flag State contexts; it interrogates the aim to define the nature of criminalisation and identifies the constituent problems in such criminal accountability.

Each chapter relies heavily on case studies to illustrate how the laws which reflect national policy underpinning those priorities are applied in practice. This structure enables an understanding of the problems in the criminal process, with a view to offering options for solutions. The book is directly relevant to a broad range of parties which includes lawyers, academics, P & I clubs, seafarers, shipowners, managers and agents, and national and international seafaring unions.

Dr Simon Daniels qualified as a Solicitor in 1985, practising in marine litigation, with experience in commercial and criminal cases over many years, before he developed a career in alternative dispute resolution as a Qualified Dispute Resolver and Member of the Faculty of Mediation and ADR, founded by the Academy of Experts in London. He brought his professional background in maritime practice to the academic field at Solent University, where he managed the law and business parts of the MCA-accredited Merchant Vessel Operations programme at Warsash Maritime Academy, one of the world’s leading centres of excellence in training for merchant shipping professionals. With the benefit of his experience across professional and academic fields, he took particular interest in the field of the criminalisation of the Ship’s Master and, in 2012, was awarded a PhD for his thesis: The Criminalisation of the Ship’s Master. A new approach for the new millennium.

In August 2019, Simon left Solent University and established a new career in maritime research and consultancy. Most recently he has carried out a complete review and update of The Shipmaster’s Business Self-Examiner, the flagship publication of the Nautical Institute.