108 F. 975 | D. Maryland | 1901
The case stated in the pleadings on behalf of the Crathorne is: That she is a steamship of 1,695 net tonnage, and on the afternoon of January 16, 1901, she left Baltimore in charge of a licensed pilot, Howard Ensor, bound for Copenhagen, laden with cargo, drawing between 21 and 22 feet, and proceeded down the Ft. McHenry channel. That the weather was clear, and vessels could be seen the usual distances. When in the vicinity of Ft. Carroll, the lookout reported'a steam vessel on the port bow, which proved to be the Acilia, coming up the Brewerton channel to Baltimore. That, as the vessels approached, the Acilia gave a single blast of her whistle, to which the Crathorne responded with a single blast and ported. When the vessels had approached within a short distance of each other, it was observed that the Acilia, contrary to the signal, was attempting to cross the Crathorne’s bow. When this was discovered, and it was seen that there was risk of collision, the Crathorne’s engines were at once stopped and reversed full speed astern, the Ctathorne’s previous speed having been moderate. The Acilia, howevér, crossed in front of the Crathorne, and they collided, with the result, owing to the great size and speed of the Acilia, that the Orathorne’s bow was greatly damaged, and she had to return to Baltimore; the damages to ship and cargo amounting, as the libelant now claims, to $50,000.
The case stated in the pleadings on behalf of the Acilia is: That she is a new steamship, built in November, 1900,'452 feet long, 52 feet beam, 5,697 gross tonnage, drawing, at the time .of collision, 19 feet aft and 13 feet 6 inches forward. That on January 16, 1901, between 2 and 3 o’clock in the afternoon, she entered the Brewer-ton channel, and was proceeding to Baltimore in charge of a licensed pilot, Warren. Carrison. That she was equipped with an electric automatic steam whistle of approved kind, which had always worked satisfactorily, and had been used several times that day. That while proceeding up the Brewerton channel, when about three-quarters of a mile from the turn into the Ft. McHenry channel, the Crathorne was seen coming down the Ft. McHenry channel, on its easternmost side, more than a mile oil. That shortly thereafter the pilot of the Acilia, “knowing the custom of pilots going to and coming from the port of Baltimore of giving the laden vessel coming down the easternmost side of the channel, where the water is deeper, and of the lighter laden vessel taking the westernmost side, where the water is shallower, proceeded to change the course of his ship by putting his helm hard a-starboard, and to signaLso as to head for the westernmost side of the channel.” That he directed the second officer to blow two' short blasts as a signal, but the whistle of the Acilia continued to blow one long drawn out blast, without stop or interruption, which continued five or six minutes, and until after the collision. That, finding that the whistle could not be shut off,
The navigation of these two steamships was governed by the act of congress approved June 7, 1897, entitled “An act to adopt regulations for preventing collisions upon certain harbors, rivers, and inland waters of the United States.” This act superseded all previous legislation, and all regulations adopted in pursuance of such legislation, and contains the whole law at present in force as to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, except certain amendments to rale 2 and rule 4, adopted by the board of supervising inspectors, and approved by the secretary of the treasury, January 30 and February 1, 1900, which are not material to this case.
The testimony disclosed that the licensed pilot in charge of the navigation of the Aeilia was grossly in fault. He was bringing the Aeilia, a steamship of 452 feet length, up the Brewerton channel, approaching the bend which unites the Brewerton with the Ft. Henry channel, and was about to pass a descending steamer in the bend, a situation plainly demanding caution, yet he continued the Aeilia at her full ocean going speed of not less than 10 knots, and probably more. It is true that the master of the Aeilia states that
Article 25 of the inland rules, established by the above-mentioned act of June 7, 1897, is as follows: “In narrow channel^ every steam vessel shall, when it is safe and practicable, keep to .that side of the fairway or mid-channel which lies on the starboard side of such vessel.” This was a dredged channel of about 600 feet width. It was therefore, in the sense of the statute, a narrow channel, and it was perfectly safe and practicable to obey the rule. For some reason of his own, but with no legal excuse, the pilot of the Acilia determined to disobey the rule, and endanger the ship, which, because of his supposed familiarity with the local miles, had been intrusted to him. He states that he supposed the Crathorne, being a laden vessel, would desire the northerly or easterly side of the channel, which is the side marked by buoys; but he had no right to proceed upon such a supposition without an interchange of signals. The testimony shows that there is no reason for such a violation of the rule. The channel is of the same depth on both sides, there is ample room to make the turn, and the pilot' of the Crathorne expected nothing but that the rule would be obeyed. And, even after the whistle went wrong, there would seem to have been time enough to have brought the Acilia under a port helm to the northerly or easterly side of the channel, if her pilot had been willing to do so. It is not to be endured that certain of the pilots shall arbitrarily pursue a course in opposition to the law, and what makes it even more dangerous is that there is no agreement even among the pilots of the same association. The Mary Shaw (D. C.) 6 Fed. 918; Steamship Co. v. Smith, 20 C. C. A. 419, 74 Fed. 261-267.
If the Acilia had been steered for her proper side of the channel, as directed by the law, there would have been no collision, notwithstanding her speed and the accident to her whistle. It is not true, as is stated in the libel of the owners of the Acilia, that she was -navigated with great caution and skill, and complied with every rule; but the reverse is the fact. It is tme that the officers and seamen of the Acilia obeyed and executed with promptness and skill the orders they received from the pilot, but they did not receive proper orders. Belden v. Chase, 150 U. S. 674-699, 14 Sup. Ct. 264, 37 L. Ed. 1218.
It being manifest that the Acilia must be held in fault, it remains to consider whether the pilot in charge of the Crathorne is to be held in fault for the 'omission .to do something that he might have done to avoid the collision. The Crathorne was going at a moderate speed, probably not over six miles an hour. She was, when the
“We saw tiie Achia two or three miles off. When she was a little below the bend she blew her whistle. She was then two points on our port bow, showing us. her starboard side. When she got to the bend we would expect that she would go around into the Fort McHenry channel, which we wore coming down, and pass us. port to port. 1 would say slie was live or six slim's lengths off when she first blow her whistle. Our pilot answered with one short blast, and said, 'Tort the helm,’ and the man put the wheel over, and while ho was porting the pilot said, ‘Hard a-port’ We then observed that, contrary to her signal and contrary to the rule, instead of porting the Acilia was going off to our sinrbonrd side of the channel, and our 'pilot gave the order, ‘Stop and full speed astern,’ and I transmitted it by the telegraph to the engine room. We were then two ship’s lengths from the Acilia.”
lie thinks it was about a minute from first hearing; the Acilia’s whistle to the time when they noticed the Acilia’s change of course as if she was under a starboard helm, and it was not until then that he thought there was something wrong with the Acilia. The master of the Crathorne states that he had left the bridge to go to the water-closet, and while there heard his ship give one short blast; that presently he felt the engines going astern, and then he came out, passed through the saloon, and up the port side of the deck, and when he had arrived at the foot of the ladder leading to the bridge the collision occurred. The testimony of the pilot of the Crathorne is to the same effect. He says the Crathorne had just passed buoy 34 when he heard the first of the Acilia’s whistle. He says he was expecting a port whistle, because he was intending to keep the starboard side, and never had any other intention, and that he kept ahead under a port helm until he made out that the Acilia was starhoarding and heading across his how, and then he gave the order to stop and reverse. The pilot of the Acilia testifies that he was abeam of buoy No. 30, and about mid-channel, when he ordered the wheel to starboard, and told the second officer to blow two short blasts; that the wheel was put to starboard, and the whistle started, and it continued to blow, and could not be stopped; that when he found the whistle was out of order he gave the order full speed astern, and that the engines were going astern for three minutes before the collision; that when he gave the order to blow the signals the Crathorne was about three-quarters of a mile off, near buoy 34.
The vessels came together just inside the southerly and westerly edge of the channel, quite close to the Hack buoy which marks the apex of the bend. The bow of the Crathorne struck the bluff of the starboard how of the Acilia, and rebounded, and struck the Acilia again about midships. The how of the Crathorne was driven in, and crashed over to port, and the plating of the Acilia was punctured in several places by the Orathorne’s anchor, as it scraped along the Acilia’s starboard side. The headway of the Crathorne
This is not the case of two steamships approaching by straight courses. The case is peculiar, in this: That those navigating the Crathorne, looking across the bend of the channel, would see the starboard side of the Acilia, but they would know that in order to keep in the channel when she reached the bend she must port her helm, and her bow must come to starboard, and expose to them her port side, and the fact that they continued to see her starboard side, even until she was nearly up to the black buoy at the apex of the bend, was no sure indication that she did not intend to port. It would only indicate some slowness in making the turn, or that the ship had perhaps taken a sheer which presently her port helm would overcome. As they watched her, they would every moment be expecting to see indications of the change to a port helm. The last thing they would have a right to assume would be that those in charge of the Acilia were persistently determined to take the wrong side of the channel. The continuing of the whistle blowing was only confusing, and without certain meaning. It did not mean that the Acilia was going to disobey the rule, and she was not in distress needing assistance. Article 31. Under these circumstances, it does not seem reasonable that the highest degree of promptness and certainty of action should be exacted of those navigating the Crathorne. They were confronted by a perplexing situation, brought about by no fault of their own. The George L. Garlick (D. C.) 91 Fed. 920-924; The George g. Shultz, 28 C. C. A. 476, 84 Fed. 508. The fault charged against the Grathorne amounts, I think, to this: That when the Acilia’s whistle continued to blow for more than three or four seconds the pilot of the Crathorne should have treated it as a distress signal, or a signal which he could not understand, and should have blown danger signals, and at once have slowed his vessel, or stopped and reversed.
Rule 3 provides as follows:
“If when steam vessels are approaching each other either vessel fails to understand the course or intention of the other from any cause the vessel so in douht shall immediately signify the same by giving several short and rapid blasts, not less than four, of the steam whistle; and, if the vessels shall have approached within half a mile of each other, both shall be immediately slowed to a speed barely sufficient for steerageway until proper signals are given, answered, and understood, or until the vessels shall have passed each other.”
Now, the difference, as I understand it, between what it is contended the pilot of the Crathorne should have done and what in fact he did do, is this: It is contended that, as soon as the Acilia’s whistle continued to blow beyond the proper duration of a passing signal, the Crathorne should instantly have stopped and reversed, while what he did do was to delay giving that order until he saw that the Acilia was not directing her course up the channel, but was going off to his starboard, and crossing his bow, he having in the meantime hard a-ported his helm, .and gone close to his starboard side of the
It cannot be said that the pilot of the Oathorne failed to understand the course or intention of the Acilia until he could make out that she was under a starboard helm, because he had a right-to presume, until he received a signal of two blasts, that she was going to obey the statute, and keep !o her proper side of the channel. Therefore it was not a fault that he did not blow danger signals. lie blew one blast, and that was not heard on ihe bridge of the Acilia,, because of the sound of her own whistle. But, even if danger whistles could have been heard, it does not seem possible that they would have afforded any information to those on the Acilia. The pilot of the Acilia says he already knew there was danger when he had starboard-ed his helm, and found that he could not shut off the Acilia’s whistle, and so could not: give notice of the altered course he had entered upon.
But the omission to give danger signals, if, indeed, they ought, under the rule, to have been given, is not sufficient to charge the Oraihorne with fault, as it clearly appears that the omission in no way contributed to the disaster, as the pilot of the Acilia already knew all that danger signals could have conveyed to him. The City of Washington, 92 U. S. 31-37, 23 L. Ed. 600. To put upon the Oraihorne the responsibility for the failure of her pilot to do all that any navigator might possibly have done if he had understood then what is understood now, after the unlooked-for intention of the Acilia’s pilot has been explained, and the cause of the prolonged whistle has been discovered, is, as was said by Lord Esher, M. R., in The Stephanotis and The Horton, cited on page 428, 168 U. S., page 157, 18 Sup. Ct., and page 530, 42 L. Ed., in the case of The Victory and The Plymoihian, “requiring men to do what no man ought to he expected to do under such circumstances.” All the language of Lord Esher quoted in the decision above cited seems to me qni te applicable to the present case. What the pilot of the Oraihorne did was to port as soon as he heard the Acilia’s whistle, and to give a signal of one blast, and when the Acilia’s whistle continued he hard a-ported, which took his vessel more and more towards his own side of the channel, and gave more room for the use of the Acilia; and when he could be sure that the Acilia was not going to follow the channel, but under a hard starboard helm was heading him off, he stopped and reversed.
Suppose when he first discovered that there was something, he could not tell what, wrong with the Acilia’s whistle, he had then either stopped and reversed, or starboarded his helm, and the Acilia
There is some conflict in the testimony in the present case as to the distance apart of the two vessels when the signals were given and when tlie engines of each were reversed. The witnesses from the Crathorne estimate the distance at the beginning of the whistle at 5 or (> ship's lengths apart; the witnesses from the Acilia place the vessels, the one at near buoy 30, and the other at near buoy 34, when the Acilia began to blow her whistle, and this would be a distance of about three-quarters of a mile. I think probably both are somewhat; mistaken. The Acilia was probably, as her* witnesses state, near buoy 30 when she signaled, but the Crathorne w*as probably somewhat farther down the channel, and nearer to buoy 32, as her own witnesses testify; but T am satisfied they were not less than half a mile from each other when the Acilia began to blow. Their combined speed was over 15 miles an hour, so that, if that speed continued, they would require less than two minutes to come together, starting from the distance of half a mile apart. The evidence establishes that the speed of the Acilia was greater than that of the (Vathorne, both before and at the time of the collision. The character of the damage tends to confirm (his. The bow of the Crathorne, although she was heavily laden with cargo, and drew over 21 feet, was smashed in bodily, and her headway was stopped by the blow, while the Acilia was not cut into except: by the Cralhorme’s anchor, as it slipped along the A cilia's starboard side. If the fVathome’s speed liad been greater, it would have resulted, I am inclined to think, in her how penetrating into the Acilia’s hull. The signal of one whistle, given by the Orathorne, was not heard on the bridge of the Acilia, because of the continuous sounding of their own whistle, but men on other vessels in the neighborhood heard it, and possibly it may have been heard on the bow of the Acilia by the lookout, but lie was not examined. I hold that the Acilia is solely responsible for the collision.
I cannot pronounce this decree without adding some observations with regard to some of the licensed pilots of the Chesapeake Bay. If I am right in my decision of this case, owners of the German steamship Acilia have suffered a loss, which it is said may amount to mí 100,000, by the inexcusable violation of a rule of navigation by one of our own pilots, employed because he is supposed to know the local rules, and whose services they were compelled to accept. Notwithstanding the accident to the steamship’s whistle, this loss could mot have happened, in broad daylight, and with all natural conditions favorable'for safety, if the pilot of the Acilia had not willfully disobeyed the rule proscribed by act of congress for navigating narrow channels. I have been for a long time disturbed by observing how little attention is paid by many of those members of tlie pilot association to the regulations prescribed by congress, and by the United States supervising inspectors under authority of congress, for pre