08/28/2026
When an injured deckhand on the Houston Ship Channel asks his employer to cover his rent and his surgery, he's invoking a bargain older than the United States itself. "Maintenance and Cure" — the shipowner's duty to heal a sailor hurt in service — runs in an unbroken line from a French island around 1160 all the way to a Texas courtroom. Our new post tells the story. 🌊⚓
From the medieval Rolls of Oléron to the courts of Texas, an injured seaman’s right to be healed at the ship’s expense has proven one of the most durable promises maritime law has ever made. This is its long history — and why nearly every seafaring nation, in every age,