Findings of Fact
1. GSI is a subsidiary of TI both of which are incorporated under the laws of *1349 Delaware, having their principal place of business in Dallas, Texas. Although GSI's domestic headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas, the company engages in geophysical survey work throughout the world. In Canada, GSI has offices in Calgary, Alberta; Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; and St. John, Newfoundland. Carino Company, Ltd., the owner of the ARCTIC EXPLORER, but not a party to this litigation, is incorporated under the laws of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada, having its principal place of business in St. John, Newfoundland, Canada.
2. Prior to her sinking, the ARCTIC EXPLORER was an oceanographic research vessel of Canadian registry, Official No. 345866, built in 1974 in Kristiansand, Norway, and home ported in St. John, Newfoundland, Canada.
3. In late 1974, GSI negotiated with Carino in Norway for the charter of the ARCTIC EXPLORER. In early 1975, Carino chartered the ARCTIC EXPLORER to GSI pursuant to a time charter agreement for the exclusive purpose of conducting marine oceanographic geophysical surveys. The Time Charter Agreement between Carino and GSI was amended on September 9, 1980. The vessel remained under charter to GSI from 1975 until the sinking of the vessel, except for periods of time when it was returned to Carino for seal hunting.
4. Pursuant to the terms of the time charter agreement, Carino provided a minimum crew complement of six seamen, consisting of a captain, mate, chief engineer, second engineer and two able-bodied seamen. (Time Charter of M/V ARCTIC EXPLORER, Clause 1.2). In addition to being responsible for crewing the vessel, Carino also maintained and operated the vessel, warranting her seaworthiness and maintaining her classification.
5. Based upon a review of the daily activity reports from the geophysical crew, William Blakeley, Manager of Marine Operations stated and the defendants do not dispute, that with the exception of three short port calls in 1979 for the purpose of taking on fuel and supplies, the ARCTIC EXPLORER has not been in the United States. Moreover, the vessel's annual surveys, required inspections and routine inport repairs were performed in a Newfoundland, Canada.
6. On July 3, 1981, under the command of Captain William Jack King the ARCTIC EXPLORER, while en route to the coast of Labrador from the port of St. Anthony, Newfoundland, sank and became lost within Canadian territorial waters at a location approximately five miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
7. At approximately 7:30 a.m. on the morning of July 3, the ARCTIC EXPLORER began to list to starboard about ten degrees. Very shortly thereafter, the list increased to approximately thirty degrees, followed by an increase to forty degrees to starboard. Weather conditions at this time were estimated to be in the range of Beaufort scale six; a strong westerly breeze blew at an estimated force of twenty-two to twenty-seven knots, the skies were clear, visibility was good and the seas were choppy. The vessel continued listing to starboard and, within thirty minutes, for unknown reasons, the vessel sank.
8. On board the vessel at the time of the sinking were Captain King and seven members of his crew, all of whom were Canadian citizens, and specifically, residents of the Province of Newfoundland. The ARCTIC EXPLORER also carried an additional crew of twenty-four men, whose sole function was to perform oceanographic geophysical survey work. There is no indication in the record, nor was there any evidence produced at the hearing, which would establish that the scientific personnel played any role in the vessel's operations. As a result of the accident, thirteen of the thirty-two individuals aboard the vessel, lost their lives. Of those thirteen, one was American, two were Australians and ten were Canadians. The Canadian Coast Guard rescued the remainder of the ship's personnel from their lifeboat approximately *1350 fifty-one hours after the vessel was lost.
9. The personnel on board the ARCTIC EXPLORER were employed as follows:
GSI Carino
1. Cyril Aylward dc 1. Clarence Ash dc
2. Malcolm Bailee 2. Gerald Butler dc
3. Scott Brennan 3. Mansfield Butt
4. James Catley 4. Brian Hargreaves
5. Gary Connolly 5. Francis King dc
6. Jeff Cunkelman 6. Jack King dc
7. Kenneth Erskine 7. Frank Philpott dc
8. William Evans 8. Roy Weir
9. Barry Gilbert dc
10. John Hobert Ocean Nav Limited
11. Derek Jeans dc
12. Roger Locke 1. John Pumphrey dc
13. William MacInnis 2. Charles Randell
14. Kevin McLean 3. John Ratter dc
15. Allan Mathewson
16. Terry Piercey dc British Petroleum
17. Derick Sheppard
18. Gerald Strachan dc 1. Chris Martin
2. Wallace Way
Tideland Geophysical Co.
1. Kelly McCamy dc
UPI ARCHIVES MAY 3, 1982
The captain of the Arctic Explorer, which sank in...
ST. JOHN'S -- The captain of the Arctic Explorer, which sank in July killing 13 men, may not have known how heavy his cargo was, a survivor said Monday.
Geophysical Service Inc., which chartered the 48-meter vessel from Carino Co. Ltd., installed extensive machinery, electronic gear and other equipment to conduct seismic surveys off the Labrador coast.
John Hobert, the assistant GSI manager aboard the Explorer and one of 19 survivors of the tragedy, told a judicial inquiry into the sinking he did not know the weight of the equipment.
At first reluctant to answer what he described as 'very speculative' questions about the weight, Hobert said the captain of the vessel 'never asked for a figure.'
The seismic tests involved firing air guns and recording shock waves reflected from the seabed through cable streaming behind the vessel.
The length of cable varied between 2,400 and 3,600 meters, but Hobert did not know the weight of the cable.
A previous witness told the inquiry each 18-meter section weighed about 100 kilograms.
The streamed cable would be heavier, though, since the casing of each section was filled with between 22 and 32 gallons of kerosene, Hobert said.
The Explorer sank less than three hours after leaving St. Anthony, 1,000 kilometers north of St. John's, where extra food and fuel and the final GSI supplies had been loaded aboard.
o. 5. TI employed Barry Gilbert, an Australian national, who signed his employment application in Dallas, Texas.
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Quotes from newspapers magazines and media
Some survivors said they had seen Captain Jack King of Badger’s Quay, Nfld., head for the bridge toward the end, but no one knew whether the doomed man had got off a distress signal. At 8:07, Coast Guard radio stations at St. Anthony and Comfort Cove, 300 km southeast, heard a five-second distress tone—and nothing after it. “It’ll never be proven where it came from,” said Captain Kip Powick, chief of the Halifax Rescue Co-ordination Centre. Had the signal stayed on for 10 minutes or so, triangulation could have located its origin.
Minister Jean-Luc Pepin defended East
Coast search and rescue facilities as adequate: the failure to send a distress signal was responsible for the delay, not rescue facilities, he said, adding: “There’s no way you can have an armada of ships and planes at every point.” Powick in Halifax pointed to the other obvious factor—the failure of Geophysical Services to notify authorities on Friday when the messages from the ship first failed to come in. At week’s end, a Transport Canada investigation team from Ottawa remained cloistered at The Battery Motel in St. John’s, poring over survivors’ statements and information about the Arctic Explorer, trying to surmise what went wrong,—while Pepin has announced a full-scale commission of inquiry into the sinking.
Bernhard Nygaard, the president of Carino Co. of Dildo, Nfld., the ship’s owners, ventured cautiously that a hidden iceberg below the waterline could have sunk the ship. Such a so-called “growler” speared the CN ferry William Carson four years ago off Labrador and sent her to the bottom. As Explorer survivor Charles Randell points out, “You’ll probably have to send a diving bell down to find out what it was.” Would radio operator Randell—whose total sea experience is the three hours of the Arctic Explorer’s truncated
voyage—go back to sea? “I like it ... I would—if I thought I could ever be com-
fortable on a ship again.”
Gerard Butler Award
This award of marine reference books is to be presented annually to a qualified student of the Ministry of Transport Nautical Certificate program. This award comes from the annual interest of a memorial trust fund set up by Mrs. Anne Butler in memory of her late husband who was lost at sea when the Arctic Explorer sank.