ABSTRACT

A ship with cargo on board sinks to the bottom of the sea, and whereupon a claim for the loss is instituted under the policy either by a shipowner, cargo owner, mortgagee, assignee and/or other interested parties is a scenario all too familiar in shipping. In such an event, should the circumstances of the case so permit, the plaintiffs would almost invariably plead fire, barratry and/or perils of the seas as the cause or causes of loss;1 and the defendants, with the same degree of predictability, would rest their defence on the ground that there was no case to answer and/or that the loss was caused by the wilful misconduct of the plaintiffs – the two strings to their bow.