Score One For The Crews

In a good news/bad news ruling, a London judge ruled in an appeal case that a crew's rights to wages from the proceeds of a vessel's sale took precedence over a bank holding a mortgage over the ship. The claim centered on the sale in 1997 of the vessel Turiddu after the First National Bank of Maryland obtained judgment as mortgagees against the owners, the Maltese Pius Shipping Company, for $1.67 million.