Gloucester Daily Times (12/20/85)

By Bill Kirk

Yankee Captains Inc. of Gloucester is being sued for $250.000 by a former crewman who claims the company’s fishing boat, Yankee Captains, was unseaworthy. David Whittemore, of 70 Western Ave. Essex, brought suit against Yankee Captains Inc. last week in Essex County Superior court and U.S.

District Court. In the complaint and demand for a jury trial, Whittemore states that on Jan. 22,1984, while he was a crew member aboard the Yankee
Captains, he suffered a disabling injury to his left foot and ankle. He underwent surgery twice, ran up medical bills more that $2,500, and lost more
than $5,000 in wages, Whittemore claims. Whittemore also claims in the suit that the injuries were not his fault, but the fault of the company, which used
poorly maintained equipment.

Whittemores’s Attorney, Joseph M. Orlando, of Orlando and White, 1 Western Ave., Gloucester, said Whittemore was a deckhand on the 94-foot deep sea fishing vessel, off the coast of Florida. Here is Orlando’s Version of what happened.

The ship’s anchor got stuck on the ocean floor, and the captain was maneuvering the boat to get the anchor dislodged. The captain ordered Whittemore to put his foot on the anchor line so he could feel when the anchor was becoming dislodged. But the anchor line snapped, Orlando said, and whipped back, hitting Whittemore’s leg.

Whittemore told Orlando that the line broke his leg. Orlando said the broken leg has caused continuing problems.

“It’s a permanent partial disability. During cold weather, his bones where the break occurred ache. If he stands for too long, his foot swells and he has a lot of pain.”

The injury caused Whittemore to lose eight months of work, Orlando said.

Whittemore is back to work now. The owners of Yankee captains Inc. Carol and Jerry Hill, are Living in Key West, Fla., for the winter. The Hills are running fishing trips and tourist outings in Florida with the Yankee Captains and a second boat, the Yankee Freedom. Carol Hill said the actual name of the company is Yankee Captains Trust, and it runs six fishing vessels out of Gloucester Harbor.

The commercial boats fish for haddock, pollock and cod. She said the Yankee Captains boat is also used for whale watching. She said.

“I don’t know anything about the case. The insurance company is handling it. It’s just your typical case of a boat getting sued. These cases are all around Gloucester. Unfortunately, it’s the way things are going.”

No court date has been set for the trial, according to the Superior Court clerk.