36 F. 914 | S.D.N.Y. | 1888
On the 24th of May, 1887, as the bark Quickstep was coming up the lower bay in tow of the tug Leonard Richards, upon a hawser from 70 to 100 fathoms long, she came into collision with the steam-ship Ludvig Holberg on her way out to sea. She was struck on her port quarter, a little aft of the mizzen chains, by the steamer’s port bow or stem, at an angle of about three points, and a large hole stove in, through which she speedily filled with water. Before sinking she was towed by the tug a few lengths only, to the fiats on the west bank, about
Upon repeated consideration of this most embarrassing testimony, I must find that during a period.of at least 15 minutes before the collision there was so much fog-between the Narrows and buoy No. 11, as to prevent vessels being visible to each other for more than a short distance; such as to require the sounding of fog-signals under the rules; and that such signals were sounded by the Holberg, as her -witnesses state; that these signals were heard by the St. Johns, as testified to; that the Holberg was at that time going “dead slow,” not over 3Ü knots; that the tug became first visible only a few hundred feet off, a little on the steamer’s starboard bow; that neither the hark nor the hawser was then visible, and that no signals indicated to the steamer that the tug had a tow some 400 or 500 feet behind her; that the steamer rightly starboarded on receiving a signal of two -whistles from the tug when she was first seen, and passed at a safe distance from the latter, starboard to starboard; that through the want of any signals from the tug to indicate, as required by the rules, that she had a tow behind her, the steamer was unable to avoid the bark, which she might, and undoubtedly would, have avoided, had
1. It is to be noted, though I do not lay great stress upon this circumstance, that although the channel-way was three-quarters of a mile wide, these vessels at the time of the collision were very near the westerly side. This is the more peculiar as respects the tug and bark, inward bound, since, if there was no fog, and both shores could be seen, as they allege, their direct and natural course was apparently on the easterly side of the channel. I do not find any explanation, other than foggy weather, of their shaping their course to the left, almost to the limit of the channel-way; while the courses of both the tug and the steamer would be natural enough, if they were feeling their way in a fog along the line of the buoys, which, as seen from time to time, would give them assurance of their positions.
2. .The general narrative of the .steamer’s witnesses is in the main straightforward, intelligible, and consistent. The story of the-pilot of the bark is so confused, and, as it seems to me, so inconsistent, as to be scarcely intelligible. The bark’s testimony that the steamer was seen half a mile distant, and that the bark was almost directly in line behind the tow, allows no rational explanation of the collision. As the steamer went well clear of the tug, and to the eastward of her, after the exchange of two whistles, it is incredible, if the bark, being from 450 to 600 feet behind the tug, was in line, or nearly in line, with the tug, and in plain view, that the steamer could have run into her, unless it were done deliberately. The pilot of the bark, moreover, gave five different orders for a change of helm, four of which were obeyed; the fifth being just at the moment of collision. The wheelsman, Ludden, who gives the clearest account of these particulars, states that they were all given in quick succession, and that the steamer was first seen a little on the port bow. The other wheelsman says she was a quarter of a point on the port bow. The first order was hard a-starboard. As soon as the helm was hard over, came the order hard a-port; next, hard a-starboard; then hard a-port, as the steamer was just on the point of striking the hawser, or afterwards, — I cannot make out with certainty whether before or after; and again hard a-starboard, after the hawser was parted, and at the moment of collision. The evident confusion and hurry of these orders, and the express testimony of the witness Ludden, show that they were given within a very short
3. Unless there was such fog as to require the fog whistles to be sounded in the judgment of the master and pilot of the steamer, and unless they did sound their fog-signals, and reduce their speed first to “half speed,” and next to “slow,” their narrative is a sheer fabrication. There is not sufficient evidence to warrant finding their testimony a fabrication. Their evidence is in no way impeached, and they are sustained by several witnesses, wholly disinterested.
’ 4. The steamer’s time from her wharf to the place of collision, to which reference has been made by counsel, rather confirms than weakens her witnesses’ statement as to her slowing on account of fog. Taking the libelants’ estimated time of getting under way, after turning, at 3:15 F. m., — the latest that the testimony will reasonably admit, — we find a little over 9} nautical miles to the place of collision, run in an hour and ten minutes. It was low water that afternoon at Governor’s island, according to the government tide-tables, at 2:32 p. m.; but the current runs ebb out of the East river 1 hour 16 minutes after lew water, and out of the North river, and through the Narrows, for over 2¡¡ hours after low water; so that the steamer had the benefit of the outward current all the ■way, at the average rate of about a knot an hour.
5. The discrepancies between the outside witnesses, as regards the density of the fog, may be accounted for in part by the difference in location, and the fact, which several mention, that the fog was variable, lifting up at one time and settling down at another; and in part by the different judgments'that different persons would form as to the density of the fog, the distance at which they could see objects, and the degree of density that make fog-signals n'ecessary, as well as the different habits of different masters in regard to sounding fog-signals. It is certainly significant, considering that the weather had been thick and hazy before, that the chief officer of the Wyanoke noted in his log that the weather was “foggy” at 4:20 p. m. If the Wyanoke did not reduce speed until she reached the Swash channel, she must have been, at 4:20, above buoy 11, and found it “foggy” there; and that would agree with the time when the Holberg changed to “slow,” five minutes before collision. Some further explanation of the discrepancies between the witnesses of the bark and the Ludvig Holberg may be found in the fact, often testified to before me, that objects cannot be distinguished so easily, or so far, in looking towards the fog as in looking away from it. The bark’s witnesses may therefore have been able to distinguish the. steamer before the latter could distinguish the bark. A number of the bark’s witnesses, moreover, estimate the distance at which they could see the steamer at a half a mile, or “inside of half a mile.” This indicates the presence of very considerable fog. As regards signals, the mate of the tug and the pilot of the bark differ. There is no question that the steam-tug gave one or two single blasts of the whistle, and afterwards a signal of two blasts. The first blasts were understood by the steamer as fog-signals; and, on looking sharply, when the first whistles were heard, the tug could not be seen. Presently, and as soon as she could be seen, the tug was observed a little on tbe steamer’s starboard bow, and signals of two blasts were immediately exchanged. I think it was then that the bark put her helm hard a-starboard, and that that was her first order. I
The well-known difference between the rise and fall of the tides and the flood and ebb currents in 1he harbor of New York, have been carefully observed and tabulated in the reports of the coast survey. Independent of the effects of freshets, or of high winds, it appears that (1) the mean interval of high water at Sandy Hook, after the moon souths, is 7 h. 35 min., varying from this about half an hour each way during each lunar period, i. e., about halt an hour earlier, roughly speaking, towards the middle of the moon’s first and third quarters, and a half hour later about the middle of the second and fourth quarters. At Governor’s island the mean interval is 32 min. greater, or 8 h. 7 min. after the moon souths, with similar variations. (2) The slack before flood and ebb lasts about 20 min.; in the East river, 30 min.; in North river, 35 min. (3) Between Governor’s and Bedloe’s islands the current begins to ran ebb 2 h. 35 min-, after high water there; continues ebb 7h. 07 min., i. e., till about 3 h. 10 min. after low water, when it becomes slack for 20 min.; and then runs flood for á h. 33 min., or 2 h. 15 min. after high water. In the main channel off the West bank the current changes only about a half hour earlier each way. (4) Between Governor’s island and the Battery the current bogins to run ebb 1 h. 40 min. after high water; continues ebb for 6 h., or till I h. 16 min. after low water; then after 10 min. slack it runs flood for 6 h. or until 1 h. 26 min. after high water. (5) At thd Narrows the ebb current begins 1 h. 40 min. after high water at Governor’s island; the flood, 2 h. 20 min. after low water at the same place. (0) During the last two hours of the ebb current In the North river and at the Narrows, there is a flood current of salt (heavier) water 15 ft. below the surface; and