The Five Unwritten Laws of the High Seas

UNWRITTEN LAW I

The Law of the Flag You Left With

Every vessel must stand behind a flag, and every captain must stand behind the vessel. A mariner may not change flags halfway through an argument merely because another nation has more favorable rules concerning shanty volume, deck chairs, or the definition of breakfast.

Capt. Dan therefore requires each cardboard vessel to leave the yard beneath one pennant and one set of expectations. The flag may be handmade, misspelled, or attached with a clothespin. It may not be replaced mid-race by a beach towel representing a jurisdiction with looser waterproofing standards.

Choose the flag before the trouble. Keep the flag through the explanation.

UNWRITTEN LAW II

The Law of Avoiding the Argument

A mariner who technically had the right of way but is now underwater has won a narrow and unsatisfying legal victory. When collision becomes possible, seamanship outranks pride. Alter course early, make the maneuver obvious, and never use a disputed navigational privilege as a battering ram.

On the high seas, as on Lake Nipmuc, the prudent captain assumes the other vessel is crewed by people who have not read the same pamphlet. Capt. Dan calls this the Doctrine of Defensive Paddling.

UNWRITTEN LAW III

The Law of Distress Before Dispute

A distress call suspends grudges, races, lunch orders, and vigorous disagreements about whose wake caused what. A mariner in danger is helped first. Questions, accusations, and the recovery of borrowed coolers come afterward.

The sea is too large to permit smallness. Any captain close enough to help becomes, for that moment, part of the same crew. This law applies even if the distressed party mocked your freeboard during inspection.

UNWRITTEN LAW IV

The Law of the Shared Horizon

No captain owns the water beyond the hull. What goes over the rail becomes everyone's problem: tape, cardboard, chicken grease, wrappers, loose decorations, and regrettable prototypes included. A proper vessel returns with its crew and every piece of material it carried away from shore.

The high seas may be free, but they are not a municipal transfer station. Capt. Dan recognizes no right to litter, dump, abandon a hull, or chum the water with patent-pending poultry treatments.

UNWRITTEN LAW V

The Law of the Honorable Captain

The captain is last to leave the vessel, first to admit the calculation was optimistic, and personally responsible for dividing the final biscuit. Authority aboard ship is not a prize. It is custody of every avoidable mistake.

When the vessel succeeds, credit belongs to the crew. When it sinks, the captain's name goes in the ledger. When it succeeds and then sinks, the crew receives credit and the captain gives a speech long enough for everyone's shoes to drain.

A captain may command the boat. The sea retains appellate jurisdiction.

The written law remains written

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea describes freedoms of navigation and other uses of the high seas, while requiring due regard for other states and placing ships principally under the jurisdiction of their flag state. It also imposes duties concerning safety, assistance, conservation, and pollution. The International Maritime Organization's collision regulations govern conduct, lights, shapes, and signals intended to prevent vessels from striking one another. SOLAS establishes major international safety standards for merchant shipping.

International waters are therefore not a legal escape hatch, and “the Captain said there was no law” is unlikely to improve any encounter with a coast guard, port authority, insurer, race organizer, or judge.