(a) Admiralty contracts. A contract covering maritime services or a maritime transaction such as vessel procurement and space for commercial ocean transportation of DOD cargo, mail, and personnel is an admiralty contract.

(b) General average. General average is the admiralty rule that when someone's property is thrown overbaord to save a ship, the ship owner and all owners of the cargo must share the loss.

(c) Maritime torts. A maritime tort is one committed in navigable waters or on land or in the air where a substantial element of the damage, personal injury, or death occurred in navigable waters. The activity causing the tortious act must bear some significant relationship to traditional maritime activity.

(d) Vessel. Every description of watercraft used or usable as a means of transportation on water is a vessel. (1 U.S.C. 3)