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was estimated that only one gallon ofthe petroleum product had leaked into the water in over 14 hours. When the Coast Guard arrived, the captain, who had already spoken with his MOPS attorney, made his statement to the investigators, who were clearly pleased with the captain?s vigorous proactive approach (which including contacting them) to address the problem. While the case is still open, U.S. Coast Guard investigators indicated that no action was planned against the vessel?s cap- tain. In summary, this minor spill turned into a non-event. Our experi- ence with licensed officers involved in oil spill cases of much greater severity, however, clearly shows that immediate remedial action and prompt reporting to authorities is their best course ofaction.A RISKWORTH TAKING?This very small sampling of different types of marine casualties ? all with thepotential of triggering investigationsand charges of negligence againstinvolved mariners ? represents just a small percentage of the hundreds of such cases, major and minor, occurring each year. While most are resolved without negative implications to the license holder, the stress and exposure of the whole ordeal might seem a pyrrhic victory for the ?cleared? indi- viduals. Therefore, it might be time to consider transferring a lot of that stress and all of the expense to a licensedefense specialist in 2012.Randy O?Neill is Senior Vice President with Lancer Insurance Company and has been Manager of its MOPS Marine License Insurance division since 1984. Over the past 27 years, Mr. O?Neill has spoken and written on many occasions onthe importance of USCG license protec- tion. He is a regular contributor to MarineNews magazine. Email: [email protected] MN#10 (18-31):MN 2011 Layouts 10/5/2011 11:15 AM Page 21