the courts have Interpreted broadly the phrase "in the service of 

 the ship" by holding that seamen ashore on leave were in the service 

 of the vessel and that shore leave was part of the seaman's employ- 

 ment. Thus, maantenaince and cure has been granted to seamen who 

 were injured or becaae ill offshore in pursuit of their own pleasures 

 and relaxation (CF. I38 Fed (2d) 8OI; G^ F. Supp. 755; 19*^5 A.M.C. 

 493; 19^7 A.M.C. 411; 19^3 A.M.C. I561). Although these particular 

 court decisions did not involve commercial fishing vessels, appli- 

 cation of this ruling to cases involving fishermen was a matter of 

 time . 



The provisions of maritime legislation and the above develop- 

 ments in jurisprudence profoundly changed the character and nature 

 of claims for personal accidents. In the first place, the amounts 

 which the courts awarded to fishermen were sometimes widely 

 different for almost identical accidents. Second, some court 

 awards were unusually large compared to the earnings which the 

 Injured fishennan lost or his disability and the vessel owner's 

 ability to pay. Third, since no legal provision designated the 

 diseases for which compensation was awarded, fishermen suffering 

 from chronic organic diseases, which normally would not be con- 

 sidered occupational, repeatedly received court awards. Finally, 

 as a result of the above developments, compensation for personal 

 accidents through litigation became a speculative venture with the 

 outcome quite uncertain ajid depended upon the sincerity of witnesses, 

 the diagnostic expertness of doctors, the agility of lawyers, and the 

 philosophy or sympathies of the jurors. But in spite of uncertainties, 

 the usually long drawn legal dispute was welcomed because in each 

 litigation there was an expected small fortune at stake . 



Fbr fuller appreciation of the above discussion, the reader is 

 referred to the findings presented in previous chapters on cost of 

 insurance, especially amount of insurance, frequency and severity 

 of accidents, and kinds of diseases. 



3. The role of labor . Developments in the legeQ. field were 

 not the only source of the problem. The findings of this survey 

 lead to the conclusion that the attitudes and conduct of labor, and 

 organized labor in particular, share a good deal of the responsi- 

 bility for the problem in protection and indemnity insurance. 



The provisions of meiritime law and jurisprudence are almost 

 equa l ly applicable to all three regions under study. Yet, loss 

 experience reaching nearly alarming proportions seems to be con- 

 centrated only in New England. During 1950-54, loss experience 

 in the Gulf Area was very favorable, while in California the 

 unprofitable loss ratio of insurers was largely due to comparatively 



108 



