(a) Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel or the owner, master or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution, which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.Meaning: There is no escaping the penalty of not following these rules. Everybody is responsible and no excuses are permitted that ‘I forgot’ etc. Also, there are some practices which are followed by seamen which may not be in the rules but they have been said and in use for many years, even these … [Read more...]