45 F. 901 -

scOWS

9, 16,

AND

'24; .

901

any therefor from him, and gave a HeHner & Co. for the damage, which' they transferred to Harjes,the consignee. Mr. Harjes part owner of the Annie Harjes, and sent. her to Port Johnson for the coal. Upon, the above facts some troublesome questions of insUJ.'ance law have been suggested; but it is unnecessary to consider them, as; upon other grounds, I think the libel should be dismissed. The Sydney, 27 Fed. Rep. 119. The coal having been bought by the consignee, and paid for by him on the 22d, before the accident, and delivered upon the vessel sent by him to receive it, the delivery to the consignee was thereby complete, the title thereto passed to him, and the shippers no longer had any interest in it. The designation of Seventy-Sixth street in the. ,bill of lading as the place of nnloading was for the consignee's benefit only; it could be lawfully changed by him ad libitum. The shipper had no interest in it.· The consignee's direction to the boat to proceed to Seventy-Fifth or Seventy-Ninth street to discharge, if no berth could be obtained at Seventy-Sixth street, being a direction competent for him to give, the vessel is protected by this order against any charge of negligenoe in obeying it, the dock was a perfectly safe and proper one or not. The consignee had notice also of her presence there, accepted part of the carp;o, and made no objection to her lying When the shower came on the captain tried to get away, but could not, because two schooners had in the mean time come up and made fast outside of him, and they refused to move. He was helpless. Undetsuch circumstances no action for going to that dock could be, maintained against the boat by either the shipper or the consignee, and none therefore by the libelant. A similar accident occurred to, a coal-boat at this wharf in July, 1884, which was the subject of a suit in Behan v. Mayor, etc., 24 Fed. Rep. 239. The evidence in the present case was very different from the evidence in that case as regards any precautions usually taken against the sewer, and its ordinary safe condition. But it is ,unnecessary to consider this further. Libel dismissed; but, as the dismissal is upon a point raised only by amendment of the pleadings at the trial, it must be without costs.

Scows 9, 16,

W.U.BRV.

AND

24. 1

AND

Scows 9, 16,

24.

(DWWLct Oourt, S. D. New York. April 28, 1891.)
BALV4GE-800ft DERELIOT IN GALE-TOWED INTO PORT.

A tug took in tow three scows loaded with mud from New York harbor, bound fOr the ground outside of Sandy Hook. While On the way, so, furioJls a gale arose ttiat the tug, to save herself; cut the hawser whIm the scows were near the eastern·end of Gedney'. channel, and the BCOWI thereupon went dl'ifting out to sea in the gale and the ebb-tide. One man was of llach scow. The tug Olive

I

Reported by Edward G. Benediot, Esq., of the New York bar.

902

FEDEB.L Blt:POR'PlB,

vol. 45.

BakElr,oomlng up -Jersey coast wltha,tow, perceived the scows, and, after anohoring her tow, went to their rescue, alid reached themabQut seven miles from shore. Owlngto wind and sea, the' master of the tug was Unable to take the . men olf the'sQqws. He'therefore got a b,awser to the soows, and brought them safely to port, through great difficulty and personal perIL The scoWS were cut adrift about 11 A.. Jd:. The gale did not moderate until 7 P. Jd:. The soows were absolutely hlllples8, anq ,praot;ioally ...'They were worth The value of thll Olive Baker was. $15,000. She was damaged by the serVIce $500. that the sum of $5,000 should be awarded aS8al\tage.
,

,

In Admiralty."Suit to recover salvage. lJfheeler, 00rti8 & Godlcinj for claimants. Goodrich, Deady & Goodrich, for libelant.
BROWN, J. On the, morning of November 22, :1890, the steam-tug John Hilliard took in tow upon a long hawser three scows, Nos. 9, 16, and 24, in single file, loaded with mud, bound for the dumping ground outside of Sandy Hook. The weather was mild when she started, but in the course of the fotenoon the wind came on heavy from the northwest, and between 10, arid 11 o'clock became so furious a gale, and the sea ,so rough, that the pilot and crew of the tug, to save their own lives, cut the hawser, and abandcmed the scows, which thereupon went drifting out to sea. in the gale and the ebb-tide. They were cut adrift at about the easterly Gedney's channel. The pilot of the tug testifies that he had previously made several vain attem pts to manage the tow, and to bring it into smoother water. One man was .aboard of each scow. They were Norwegians, and could not understand the hails from the tug. The pilot could not take tbe men off because tbe sea was too When the hawser was cut, rough to permit his boat to he says, the water was lievan with' the 'balf-door of the fire-roolD," and that "the boat was so lDuch under water that be didn't think she would come up at all wbenhe let go." He reached the lee of the Jersey shore. Not long afterwards; the pilot of the libelant's steam-tug Olive Baker, coming up the Jersey' coast with a' schooner in tow on a hawser, observed the scows.adriftat.a considerable distance, and, surmising that men were 911ooard,andin danger, of their lives, and .being himself quainted with that business, determined, after consulation with the crew, to attempt to go to their rescue. He thereupon took the schooner to a safe anchorage near the Jersey coast, and reached the scows a little to the southeastward of the Sandy Hook light-ship, about 7 miles from .tp th.e furious wind and sea, to shore, but found it take the men off the scows, and he thereupon determined to endeavor to tow them into smoothwnter.' A hawser. was finally attached to the scows, and by a circuitous course to the soutb-west they reached smoother water in the afternoon, and late at nightg6t safelyihtoport. The gale was heavy till about 7 "When The above libeJ is filed to recover salvage compensation for the above service. but the lives ,The case is one of unllsual meriL Not only of the men on board, were in evident peril. They had been abandoned by their own tug. Several other tugs had been requested to go to their rescue, and had refused, on account of the danger of the undertaking.

THETAN<JARVILLE'·.

903

One witness testifies that in. his,bpinion the scowa.:wonld have ridden out the gale if not reseued;,others. thought .not.·Considering the. fact that the gale moderated at 7p; ,!d:. ,that the scows did ,not get into smoother water until about 3 P. Y., £uid' were therefore exposed to the gale for four hours without substantial injury, so far as appears, although from 3 to 7 P. M. the sea was probably rising, and the da'nger to such 'scows greater, it is not impossible that they might have ridden out the gale in safety. Though I cannot, therefate, treat the clise as one of certain destruction of the scows except for the relief afforded by these salvors, the peril was evidently great. Abandoned by their own tug, though not strictly derelict, they were for the time being practically so, as the men on board were' wholly destitute.of any meanS of helping themselves. The anchol's were. very light, not adapted for service at sea, and .if thrown overboard would have been of no use. The value of the scows was $20,000; that of the Olive .Baker $15,000. In rendering'the service, side of the tug's house was stove ·in,and. her boiler shifted. The expense of, the necessary repairs, including demurragednring the necessary time'for ,making them,imd the loss of towage in abandoning the schooner,.amounted to. about $500. The chief elements in the case that entiUe ·tho sa,;lvors: to a liberal reward ate the imminent jeopardy of the ·tow",·With.the lives of those on board, and the great bravery, persistence,andskill of the;pilot.of the Olive Baker and his crew in going to and in rescuing; the tow after it had been abandoned by one tug, and after others:l:iad feared·'ahd refused to attempt to save it. In rendering these services the salvors' labored I'luderpeculiar difficulties, to some extent in peril:of. their own lives" and their success was perfect in rescuing the tow without substantialil\iury. ·.Under such circumstal1ces, I think an 85,000 no more than a. suitable of the peculiar merit'()fthis salvage servioe. Of this sum the pilot and crew should receive one-'half, .and the owhers' of the tug' the other .half; the: latter including the damage to the tug. Out of the allowance'to the master and crew I allQW $500 to the master, and the residue is to be divided atuong the master, engin and crew, in 'proportion to their wages., er,

,THE T ANCARVILLE. 1

ArrLANTIC

& C. S. S. Co. v.

THE TANCA.'RVILJ,E.

{District Court, S. D. ,New Yor"- 'April 23, 1891.}
TM· .steaIn-ship TancarvWe, laden, with rough her machinery broke down. She made sail, but, owmg to her deep ladmg, was unable to . steer properly, made little progrellS,aI1d begin to jettison her cargo. The weather. wall fair, but the vellSel .was somllwhat out of. the track of steamers, and in a region especially liable to stOrIns. The steam-ship V caine up, and,
1 Reported

TO PORT.

by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., of the New York bar.