"When Captain Jamison observed the passage between Cape Jackson and the Cape Jackson light house, to open up, he made a sudden decision to navigate the ship through that passage." The 1986 New Zealand Minister of Transport Richard Prebble later stated of the captain's actions, "why he decided to guide the ship over a passage that he actually knew was too shallow, I don't think he'll ever be able to answer." Cause as established by Soviet inquiry The Soviet commission of inquiry concluded that; "Pilot Don Jamieson took a decision which was not justified by anything and gave a command to steer the ship through the dangerous for navigation passage between Cape Jackson and Jackson Head which must not be passed through because of insufficient depths for a ship of such draught." Nevertheless, the Russian navigator, chief officer Sergey Stepanishchev was sent to prison for 4 years "with labor" and fined $US30,000 because he did not overrule the pilot. New Zealand Prime Minister at the time of the sinking, David Lange, called the sentence "totally absurd; it's an instance of totalitarian justice being meted out to a man who had no ... responsibility for steering the ship anywhere near Port Jackson. In fact, he'd been stood down in favour of Captain Jamison." As harsh as it may seem - "The presence of a pilot on board does not relieve the master or officer in charge of the watch from their duties or obligations for the safety of the ship" Court case The disaster was the subject of the celebrated Australian restitution case Baltic Shipping Company v Dillon (The Mikhail Lermontov) (1993) 176 CLR 344, in which Mrs Dillon, having already been awarded damages for loss to both her possessions and person, as well as a pro-rata refund on her cruise ticket, claimed restitution for the remaining value of her ticket on the basis of failure of consideration. Rejecting proposed analyses of the cruise as an entire obligation, and alternatively as a payment conditional on performance, the High Court re-affirmed the rule that failure of consideration must be total in order for a claim for restitution to be sustained. Simply put, Mrs Dillon could not deny the benefit she received during her first eight days on the cruise. Furthermore, the court, following earlier English authority, held that full damages and complete restitution will not be given for the same breach of