Toni Deal v. A. P. Bell Fish Co. And Beverly J. Estes

GARZA, Circuit Judge:

This cause arises from the disappearance of seaman Richard Steven Deal from the F/V MISS IRENE on August 25,1978. 1 At the time of his disappearance, Deal was employed as a deckhand on this vessel, a job which he had secured four days earlier when the vessel was docked in Morgan City, Louisiana. One day later, the MISS IRENE set out in Gulf waters to fish for red snapper and grouper. The ship carried three individuals for this voyage: Deal, the captain, Joseph Willard Creamer, and the cook, Willie Lee Roberts.

On a fishing voyage such as this, one of the most important…