SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Attorney John Hillsman has spent a legal lifetime learning about ships, boats, and nearly anything that floats. And he's seen his share of disasters, including representing Bay Area fisherman in the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill on San Francisco Bay. But he says charting a legal course often begins with untangling an obscure maritime law that stretches back more than a century.

"The Ship Owner's Limitation Liability Act literally dates from gothic middle medieval concepts, but it was enacted in the United States in 1851 -- the same month that Moby Dick was first published," Hillsman said.

That's right, that Moby Dick. And

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