Kinnear

Northern Queen, Inc. (“Northern Queen”) brings this matter pursuant to the Limitation of Liability Act, 46 U.S.C. §§ 181 et seq. After its fishing vessel tragically sank with all hands on board, Northern Queen brought suit seeking to limit its liability to the estate of the vessel’s Captain. After a half-day bench trial, the district court entered judgment for Northern Queen, holding that the primary duty doctrine precluded the Captain’s estate from recovering. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I.

Northern Queen is a small family-owned corporation that had two principal shareholders: Blake Kinnear (“Kinnear”), the president, managing agent and captain of the corporations primary asset the fishing ship LIN J (the “vessel” or the “LIN J”), and Kinnear’s mother Linda Kinnear, the corporation’s secretary/treasurer.

In March 1999, American vessels were completing the Opelio crab season in the northwest section of the Bering Sea. 2 One such ship was the Lin J. On March 9,1999, Kinnear sent e-mails to his mother and his *1093 wife, indicating that the weather was turning bad and that ice was becoming a concern. 3 Several…

dissenting:

While I agree with most of the majority opinion, I respectfully dissent from the conclusion that the third element of the primary duty rule, that Kinnear knowingly violated his duties, is adequately presented on this record. In my view, the record supports a conclusion of negligence, but not of knowing violation. As I see it, the district court’s conclusion that Kinnear knowingly violated duties, and our affir-mance of same, is based on undue speculation. I would reverse the district court’s judgment.

Just as probable as the district court’s theory of “knowing violation” is that the captain, knowing the ship was taking on water in the lazerette, might have been concerned that speed in getting to shore was more important than avoiding the increased icing that would come from speed. If we can speculate that the captain knowingly, and not merely negligently, disregarded his duties, we may just as well speculate that the captain was uncertain *1099 about the rate of water increase in the lazerette or other impairment of the ship and about its effect on the ship’s stability.

This case presents a terrible tragedy: There is a tragic loss of life of captain and crew whose…