This specialized branch of admiralty law compensates any seaman who suffers personal injury or illness due to unseaworthiness or negligence during employment aboard a vessel operating in navigable waters. A victim may recover lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, physical pain, emotional anguish and cost of living expenses while in recovery. A worker injured on a pier, wharf, dry dock or terminal may recover under the Jones Act.

This federal law compensates families who lose a loved one to an accident that occurs in an offshore job. The act covers deaths that have occurred beyond three nautical miles from the shore of any state and includes commercial aviation accidents beyond 12 nautical miles from the shores of the U.S. Recovery, however, is limited to the family's monetary losses and does not include pain and suffering, loss of companionship or future medical expenses.

This is a comprehensive workers' compensation scheme that provides medical and disability benefits to offshore workers who are injured or become ill on navigable waters. To recover under the act, a worker does not need to prove that the employer was at fault. The act also provides wrongful death benefits to survivors of offshore workers who are killed on the job.

In addition to general maritime negligence, general maritime law covers the principle of maintenance and cure. Under this, a vessel owner must cover a seaman's medical treatment until maximum medical recovery is reached. The owner must also cover the seaman's basic living expenses until completion of the ship's voyage, even though the seaman is no longer aboard the ship when it reaches port.