COFFIN V.THE OSCEOLA.
921
COFFIN
et at
'D.
THE
OSCEOLA. I
(District Oourt, E. D. NeJI1J York.
April 9,1888.)
1.
COLLISION-DAMAGES-DEMURRAGE.
2.
Demurrage may be recovered for the detention of a boat while undergoing repairs rendered necessary by collision, though it avpears that the work that the injured boat would have done but for the collision was done by another boat owned bv libelants, and which was at the time without other employment. No additional allowance should be made for permanent depreciation as a result of a collision without positive proof of such depreciation.
SAME-PERMANENT DEPRECIATION.
In Admiralty. On exceptions to commissioner's report. Edward H. Hobbs, for libelants. Carpenter k Mosher, for claimant. BENEDICT, J. The exceptions in this case cover two questions which deserve attention: First, whether the libelants can recover demurrage for the detention of their boat while undergoing repairs, when it appears that the work that the injured boat would have done but for the collision was done by anothp.r boat owned by the libelants, arid which was at the time without other employment. The commissioner allowed demurrage, and I think he was right. It is true that this is not like the cases of The Cayuga,! Ben. 171, and The Favorita, Id. 30,-an action for detention of a ferry-boat,-but it is wjthin the principle of those cases. The next question is-whether the libelants should have been allowed for pei:manent depreciation. The testimony certainly indicates that for some reason or other the boat was not as available after the repairs as she was before the collision, but it does not appear to me to be sufficiently cer;' tain to justify the allowance of any additional sum as damages caused by the collision. It is hardly a case where intrinsic and inevitable diminution of value is shown to have resulted from the collision because it was not possible to make complete repairs. lRepo1'te/l by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., of the New York bar.
922'
,FEDEIU,L'
THE NJ!lW, YORK" BARRETT
etal., V. THE, et al.
NEW YORK. 11. SAME.
HUMPHREYS
(lJi8trict Oourt. E.
D. N61IJ
Y01'k.
April 9, 1888.) , ,
SALVAGE-VESSEL AT DOCK-FmE-COMPENSATION.
The steam-ship New York, loaded with cotton and other goods, lay on the upper side of the Morgan Line pier, On the occasio,nof the breaking'out of fire on that pier in February, ;1887.,'fhe tire spread, along th,e pierwith remarkable rapidity, and threatened the New York, which had no steam up, and could not get awayby her own motive power. The tug Jason, which was near the slip when the tIre broke out, and the tug Goodwin, which had laid up for the night in the slip, took hold of the Ne:w York, and towed her out into the stream, accomplishing the service in about an hour. The New York wall en· tirely unharmed. Other tugs which might have performed the serv-$ce were in the vicinity when the tire broke out. The value of the New York and 'cargo was some '488,000. Held, th"t(ll8ch tug should, be awarded $2,000 as salvage. ., , ' "
': III Admiralty.. Libel for salvage.
Wing, Putnam,for13arrett and others. Chrpenter & MO$her,forHuIDphreys and others. ' Cha$. H. Pweed and 'R. for the New York.
BENEDICT, J'. , This is one of several abtions for salvage instituted in this court to recover for services' rendered the ,occasion of the disasfire that oC,curred at ,the pier of the Morgan Line of steamers in the North the 28th dayofl!"'Elbruary, 1887. The fireseems to have broken, out on a lighter ehd'ofpier 37., Onthe'south side of that,' pier lay thestelimer '. Lone Star; on the north side of that pier lay. the vesSel here proceeded ligainst, the steamer New 'York; with .IL fun cargo board, consfstirig ofcotton, wip.e, andother goods. When the 'fire broke out a strong wina was blowing from thenorth-west, in fact, a gale. Pier 37 was covered by a shed,· the front doors of which were
'on'
pier, so that not only the cotton in the shed, but also the shed, the pier, and the Lone Star herself were consumed. The fire came so fast as to drive the firemen off the pier, and compel them to take refuge on a tug. According to one witness, it came up the pier towards the New York nearly as fast as a man could walk. When the fire broke out the steamtug Jason, seeing it, at once turned back from her course, and pushed into the slip for the purpose of towing the New York away from the burning pier. The master of the steam-ship hailed her, as she came near, to take a line from the steamer, which was promptly done. The Goodwin, a more powerful tug, had laid up for the night in that slip, 1 Reported
t}
by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., of the New York bar.