Like Frank Sinatra, the U.S. Supreme Court loves all things maritime. So much so, that its first maritime contract dispute was decided in 1781. Now, 238 years after that first contract decision, with many in between, the Supreme Court has its radar set on resolving another important maritime contract dispute.

The case is not about a tugboat or cement bag dropping overboard, but a spill of 264,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River. A nine-ton anchor sliced through the skin of an oil tanker while approaching its berth in Paulsboro, N.J. The anchor, long abandoned in the navigation channel, pierced the hull of the Motor Tanker (M/T) ATHOS I causing the oil spill. U.S. v. CITGO Asphalt Ref. Co. (In re Frescati Shipping Co.), 886 F.3d 291 (3d Cir. 2018).