Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also want to thank the three of you for coming to spend some time with me. I really appreciate it. I wish we could have had more time to outline your concerns. If it can give you any level of assurance, our committee will be going through all the amendments with the lawyers and the staff of the departments, and it will give us an opportunity to further examine them about inconsistencies in law and so forth. We need to hear more from you, so that we can then pursue these issues with the Department of Justice.
We did have a good discussion last night about your concern about absolute liability. I have to confess I'm still not convinced that what's happening is an absolute liability. I have noted that they have changed the two provisions. I do look forward to asking the government lawyers why they are now adding the “and”--the “master and the chief engineer”.
I would like to ask this question, and anyone can answer it for me. What is the relationship on the ship between the master and the chief engineer?