Clifford argues that the ship-owner was guilty of the deaths of the passengers even though he sincerely believed the ship was sound: ""e had no right to believe on such evidence as was before him"." Moreover, he contends that even in the case where the ship successfully reaches the destination, the decision remains immoral, because the morality of the choice is defined forever once the choice is made, and actual outcome, defined by blind chance, doesn't matter. The ship-owner would be no less guilty: his wrongdoing would never be discovered, but he still had no right to make that decision given the information available to him at the time.