Towage

* The act of towing or drawing ships and vessels, usually by means of a small steamer called a tug. Towage service is confined to vessels who have received no injury or damage; Mc- Connochie v. Kerr, 9 Fed. 53. Where towage is rendered in the rescue or relief of a vessel from imminent peril, it becomes salvage service, entitled to be compensated as such; 6 N. Y. Leg. Obs. 223. Where a service was salvage, one claiming it to have been a towage service must plead and prove a contract; The Lowther Castle, 195 Fed. 604. A tug, sometimes called towing or tow-boat, while not heljd to the responsibility of a common carrier, is bound to exercise reasonable care and skill in everything pertaining to its employment; The James Jackson, 9 Fed. 614; The E. V. Mac Caulley, 84 Fed. 500; The City of New York, 54 Fed. 181, 4 C. C. A. 268, 14 U. S. App. 39; Vessel Owners T. Co. v. Wilson, 63 Fed. 626, 11 C. C. A. 366, 24 U. S. App. 49; The Blue Bell, 1S9 Fed. 824; taking into consideration the fact that it contracts as an expert and is bound to know the channel, its usual currents and dangers, and to avoid obstructions ^which ought to be known to men experienced in its navigation; The El Rio, 162 Fed. 567. A tug is the dominant mind, and the tow must follow her directions; The Fort George, 183 Fed. 731, 106 C. C. A. 169. Proof of a loss suffered by tow does not raise a presumption of negligence on the part of the tug > The Webb, 14 Wall. (U. S.) 406, 20 L. Ed. 774; The A. R. Robinson, 57 Fed. 667. Where two vessels, each in charge of a tug, came in collision from the faulty navigation of the tugs whose masters gave directions to the vessels which were obeyed, the tugs alone were held liable; The Doris Ecklioff, 50 Fed. 134, 1 C. C. A. 494, 1 U. S. App. 129. A steamship in charge of a tug is not liable in case of accident; International M. M. Co. v. Gaffney, 143 Fed. 305, 74 C. O. A. 443. Tugs cannot abandon their tows for slight causes; The Charles Runyon, 5G Fed. 312, 5 C. C. A. 514, 14 U. S. App. 410. The duty of a tug to tow is a continuous one from the time the service commences until it is completed, and where it becomes necessary to anchor the tow, the tug’s obligation of reasonable care continues at least until it bind the cargo owner by a contract with a tug; The Oceanica, 170 Fed. 893, 96 C. C. A. 69. See Tug. The burden of proving that a contract of towage was at the owner’s risk, is on the tug; The American Eagle, 54 Fed. 1010; The Snap, 24 Fed. 292. The use of long tow lines in New York Harbor, while not to be commended, does not render the tug liable for damages caused by her tow by collision with another vessel through the fault of the latter to which the length of the tow did not contribute; The Domingo De Larrinaga, 172 Fed. 264. An admiralty lien for towage is inferior to a statutory lien for repairs, the towage having been performed more than six months before, without effort to collect until after the repairs; The Sleepy Hollow, 114 Fed. 367.