Case ID: us-ct-cl_62/html/0338-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Geabcam:, Judge,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

BULL INSULAR S. S. CO., BULL INSULAR LINE (INC.), AND JOHN W. CAREY ON HIS OWN BEHALF AS MASTER AND ON BEHALF OF THE OTHER OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE CREW OF THE STEAMSHIP “CORNELIA,” v. THE UNITED STATES
    [No. A-83.
    Decided June 1, 1926]
    
      On the Proofs
    
    
      Salvage services; amount of compensation.- — The amount of compensation for salvage services is to be determined from all the circumstances of the case, bearing in mind the labor expended, the risk incurred, the “ promptitude, skill, and energy ” displayed, the values of the vessels and the danger they were in, and that a reward should be given, not merely as pay, but as an inducement to engage in such enterprises.
    
      
      The Reporter's statement of the case:
    
      Mr. Warner G. Pyne for the plaintiffs. Duncan do Mount were on the briefs.
    
      Mr. J. Frank Staley, with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney General Herman J. Galloway, for the defendant.
    The court made special findings of fact, as follows:
    I. The Bull Insular Steamship Co. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with an office and place of business at 40 West Street, in the borough of Manhattan, city of New York, and now is, and at all times hereinafter mentioned was the owner of the steamship Cornelia.
    
    The Bull Insular Line (Inc.) is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Maine, with an office and place of business at 40 West Street, borough of Manhattan, city of New York, and was at all times hereinafter mentioned the charterer of the said steamship Cornelia..
    John W. Carey was at all times hereinafter mentioned master of the steamship Cornelia.
    
    II. At about 3 p. m., May 9,1920, the United States Army transport Northern Pacific left her berth at San Juan, P. it., and headed out of the harbor, bound for New York. Shortly before reaching the outer limits of the harbor, and in making the turn seaward around buoy No. 3, she began to feel the fresh easterly trade wind striking her starboard bow, and responded sluggishly to her helm. When she received the full effect of the wind farther into the channel she commenced to set bodily leeward. It becoming apparent that she would not make the turn, all headway was gotten off and she settled gently on Colnas Shoal, on the lee side of the channel; that is, westerly across the channel from Morro Point. She brought up at 4.10 p. m. Her bow was headed a little east of north, and she was aground portside aft of amidships at two points, just under the firerooms about midway between the two stacks and under the stern. She was immediately filled with water ballast for the purpose of settling her firmly so that she would not lodge farther up on the .shoal. The vessel lay unprotected from a wind of a velocity •of 25 to 30 miles per hour, which was coming from the northeast, and the swell caused thereby resulted in the vessel gently striking fore and aft with the rising and lowering of the water.
    Wireless messages requesting assistance were immediately sent, one of which reached the Government inspector of hulls, who immediately went to the piers, found that the steamship Cornelia had steam up, and requested her assistance. Within 15 minutes after the request was made the Cornelia shoved off from the dock and went directly to the Northern Pacific, coming alongside of her at 5.05 p. m.
    III. The Northern Pacific at the time of the services was .a United States Army troop transport, a purchase of the Shipping Board, and was 525 feet in length, with a beam of 68 feet 1 inch. She was equipped with three Parsons direct-connected turbines, with three propellers. She was of 26,900 shaft and .28,000 indicated horsepower. She was well •equipped and well found in every respect. Her value at the time of the services was $2,850,000.
    She carried a crew of 257 men, about 150 passengers, and 300 soldiers, among whom were General Pershing and other -distinguished persons.
    IY. The Cornelia was a steel freight steamship, in first-class condition, of 2,003 net and 3,216 gross tonnage, 328 feet in length, 46-foot beam, and 27 feet deep. Her draft was 17 feet aft and 12 feet forward. She was an oil burner and carried a crew of 35, 4 of whom were licensed engineers and 4 licensed deck officers. Her general cargo amounted to about 1,600 tons. Her ordinary cruising speed was 12 knots. Her value was $812,700, and the value of her cargo was $253,662 additional. The vessel was owned by the Bull Insular Steamship Co. and was chartered to the Bull Insular Line (Inc). The A. H. Bull Steamship Co. owns the stock of both companies. These first two companies, together with Capt. John W. Carey, on behalf of himself and the other members of the crew, are the plaintiffs herein. The crew with their rating and wage scale are as follows:
    
      
      
    
    The bills of lading covering the carriage of the cargo contained the following clause:
    “ The vessel shall have liberty hereunder either before or after proceeding to or toward any port of discharge or transshipment to proceed to or toward, call, enter or stay at any port or ports, although not upon the usual or any route to, and although in a contrary direction to or beyond the port of discharge or transshipment, once or oftener, backwards- or forwards, in any order or rotation, for any purposes whatsoever, though pertaining to another voyage, and the same shall riot be deemed a deviation, but within the voyage hereby intended as fully as if specifically described herein; and the vessel shall have liberty also to sail in or out of ports and to proceed with or without pilots, to tow and assist vessels in any situation, and -to deviate for the purpose of saving life or property.”
    The charter provided “ all salvage and towing to be for owners’ and charterers’ equal benefit.”
    
      Y. When the Cornelia arrived alongside the Northern Pacific the Army tug Penguin was on the scene, being the first boat to arrive. The Cornelia anchored off the starboard bow of the transport, letting out about 30 fathoms. She immediately ran a new 8-inch manila hawser from her starboard quarter, after chock, to the starboard bow, forward chock, of the transport. The tug Penguin appears to have been too heavily loaded with coal for agility and in maneuvering cut this hawser with her propellers. The running of the hawser was repeated, and at 6.52 was fast. The Cornelia hove anchor and started to tow, but the hawser parted and 20 fathoms of it was lost. The Cornelia returned and anchored again.
    At 7 p. m. the Northern Pacific’s new 10-inch hawser was passed to the Cornelia and made fast as before, at 9 o’clock. At about 10 she began to tow and continued till 11.30, when wireless from the transport told her to cease towing. No movement of the transport as a result of the towing was noticeable. The Cornelia then released the hawser and moved out into the channel, anchored, and stood by for the night..
    During the evening, in an attempt to carry out the trans■port’s starboard anchor, the tug Penguin dropped it overboard and lost it.
    The tug John Berwind arrived at 8.15 the first night (9th) and ran the transport’s kedge anchor aft, but on heaving away on it the anchor came right home.
    VI. Between the evening of the 9th and the evening of the 10th the wind gradually abated.
    The morning of the 10th a message from the transport asked the Cornelia to anchor at a spot not deemed safe by the captain of the latter, and a conference resulted between the two captains. This resulted in the Cornelia anchoring as requested. She let go both the anchors and proceeded to run the 10-inch hawser. It was made fast, as before, at 9 a. m. and made taut with the windlass. During the day the Cornelia kept her anchors down and the hawser tight, the sole intent being to hold the Northern Pad-lie’s bow from going farther on the reef.
    
      On this day the lighthouse inspector offered the services of the lighthouse tender Lilac. She was especially equipped to handle anchors and ground tackle, but was not well manned. She laid a mushroom anchor that day, but when a strain was put on it it came home.
    Divers worked on the Northern Pacific during the 10th and 11th, freeing the rudder from the buoy and mooring chain with which she had fouled.
    During the day (10th) the tug, John Berwind, was engaged in running hawsers from the transport to a point ashore.
    VIL The morning of the 11th the hawsers and anchors, which had been sent for, arrived. A 4-inch steel hawser was made fast to the port quarter of the Cornelia and to the bow chock of the Northern Pacific at 6.20 a. m. After the transport had emptied her water tanks the Cornelia towed all day, starting about 8.30 a. m., assisted for about three hours by the Lilac^ about one and one-half hours by the Penguin, and for about three hours by the tug Hubbard. At 5.46 the towing stopped, at which time the transport filled her tanks again. The towing that day had no effect, as far as moving the Northern Pacific was concerned.
    During the day the Lilac laid an 8,000-pound anchor well out in the channel and attached it to the Northern Pacific by three wire hawsers which were hove tight with the windlasses.
    The Cornelia, after towing, continued to hold fast to the transport as before.
    VIII. During the day of the 12th no towing was attempted, the Cornelia acting merely as an additional anchor, as before.
    On this day the U. S. S. Potomac, a 2,000-horsepower, seagoing Navy tug of 532 gross tons, reported about 9 a. m., but did no duty except between 1 and 5.30 p. m., when she was engaged in recovering the end of a line that had parted and was on the bottom.
    The Penguin came at 11.30 with a 3y2-ton anchor, laid it and attached it to the Northern Pacific by a steel cable, and hove it tight. A little later the Lilac laid a 4,200-pound anchor and attached it to the stern of the transport by several wire hawsers and hove it tight.
    IX. No different service was required of the Cornelia during the day of the 13th than that of the previous day, except that a 3%-inch wire hawser was run from her bow to Morro Fortress across the channel to the east. The captain of the Cornelia, together with the captains of three towboats, went aboard the Northern Pacific about 4 o’clock on the afternoon of this day for a conference as to the next day’s operations.
    The U. S. Navy tug Potomac assisted the Lilac in laying-an anchor, and took position ready for work in the morning.
    The Lilac laid an anchor of 4% tons and one of 3,210-pounds, and attached them to the transport by 1-inch steel hawsers and hove tight.
    The U. S. Engineer tug San Luis took a position for-towing, as did the tug Ortolan on this day. At 1 p. m. the Northern Pacific started to pump out her water tanks.
    X. With the exception of the movement caused by the swell as heretofore found, the Northern, Pacific made no-change in her original position from the time of grounding-to the time that she came clear of the shore. The sea was-smooth during all of the time after the 10th, but about 4 a. m.. of the 14th a slight swell caused the vessel to strike gently..
    XI. At about 6 o’clock on the morning of the 14th, on a prearranged signal, the attempt to dislodge the Northern Pacific began. The two tugs, Ortolan and San Luis, attached by hawsers to the stern of the transport, towed in a southeasterly direction; the tug Potomac, likewise attached, towed in a little south of east direction, while the Cornelia, attached to the bow of the transport, towed in a northeasterly direction.
    The hawser from the Cornelia to the fort carried away shortly after the towing started, and, thereupon, the Cornelia changed her speed from slow to full ahead. About five minutes thereafter she received orders from the Northern-Pacific to stop towing, but did not obey until the order was repeated a couple of minutes later. There appears to have been a misunderstanding of the agreement reached at the conference the afternoon before, the opinions being evenly-divided as to whether the Cornelia should have towed or merely stood fast.
    No apparent harm, however, was experienced by the Northern Pacific as a result of the towing by the Cornelia, for the transport went astern slowly at 6.29 a. m., and at 6.31 went astern full speed on all engines, and at 6.45 came entirely clear of the shoal, and the three tugs stopped towing. At 6.47 the three tugs and the Cornelia were ordered to start towing to mid-channel, where they arrived at 6.50. At 6.55 the Ban Luis let go, at 7 the Potomac let go, at 7.05 the Cornelia let go the 10-inch hawser, at 7.07 the steel hawser, and at 7.09 hove her anchors. She returned to her dock at 10.40 a. m., got a berth at 1.14 p. m., and started to discharge her cargo at 2 p. m.
    The tug Ortolan continued to assist the Northern Pacific while her steering gear was tried out.
    XII. The only damage found to have resulted to the Northern Pacific was to some plates under the fireroom which had been bent up or dished in, requiring some slight repair by way of caulking rivets.
    XIII. Throughout the service the master of the Cornelia was aboard the Northern Pacvfic daily for conferences, and the members of the crew of the Cornelia were at all times at the post of duty, standing by in cáse of emergency.
    XIV. At the point of grounding the channel is about 600 feet wide, with Morro Fortress and its walls built along the east bank and the coral reefs, of which Colnas Shoal is a part, on the west bank. The shoal is unprotected from the force of any wind and swell which comes from the sea and the north and northeast.
    A trade wind prevails between north and east from about November to April, and from that time until the hurricane season in 'the summer there is a period of more or less variable winds, alternating thunder squalls blowing hard from east to northeast, and calms.
    This point is usually subjected to a ground swell from the sea regardless of the presence of a wind.
    During most of the service the Cornelia was anchored in about 17 feet of water.
    
      Throughout the period of salvage services the sea and breezes were moderate and the weather good.
    XV. On May 2, 1920, prior to the salvage services, the Cornelia left her home port in New York with cargo for Porto Rico, where she arrived May 6; from then on to the time of the services rendered she was engaged in discharging a portion of her cargo. She was one of a series of boats engaged in island trade and was run on schedule. The plaintiff companies employed spare boats to maintain regular sailings. They were thus able to and did carry all cargo offerings made during the period involved in this suit and secure the profits that would otherwise have been made by the Cornelia.
    
    In the absence of the salvage service the Cornelia would, have returned with a cargo from San Juan on May 18 and would have arrived in New York May 28 and made ready for another voyage to start on May 29, as per schedule. The salvage services retarded her return trip to New York, SO' that she did not leave San Juan until May 29, which brought her arrival in New York June 1. In her place on the schedule of sailings for the 29th was sent the Margaret, one of' the plaintiff companies’ boats. The Cornelia, had fully discharged her cargo on June 4th at 4.15 p. m., began to recargo-8.00 a. m., June 9th, and sailed again June 12. She did not sail before that time because one of the plaintiff companies’ boats was scheduled to sail and did sail on the 5th, and there-was not sufficient cargo offered to sail two vessels at the same time.
    The delay of the Cornelia at New York was due to failure-of cargo offerings.
    At the time of the salvage service there was a strike of longshoremen and truckmen at the ports of Porto Rico and a rail strike in New York, which made uncertain movements, of the vessels operated by the plaintiff companies between those points.
    The charter party provided that the charterer (Bull Insular Line) pay for the fuel oil, and the owner (Bull Insular-Steamship Co.) pay for the crew’s wages, provisions, and stores. The Cornelia was engaged in the salvage services--4.86 days. The fuel oil consumed during said period was of the value of $845. The crew’s wages were $139 per day and their subsistence $78.25 per day, which were, for said period, $675.54 and $380.30, respectively.
    The charter hire for the Cornelia was $7 per dead-weight ton per month, or $32,508 per month. That rate was paid by the charterer to the owner during the period involved and for the said 4.86 days amounted to $5,096.44.
    
      Summary
    
    Charterer (Bull Insular Line) :
    Charter hire at $32,508 for a 31-day month, or $1,048.65 per day for 4.S6 days-$5, 096.44
    Fuel oil___ 345. 00
    Charterer’s expenses- 5,441.44
    Owner (Bull Insular Steamship Co.) :
    Crew’s wages, 4.86 days, at $139 per day_ 675. 54
    Crew’s subsistence, 4.86 days, at $78.25 per day_ 380.30
    Stores--- 150.00
    Owner’s expenses_ 1,205.84
    Total expenses at San Juan__ 6, 647.28
    The average daily net earnings of the Cornelia were $725 for the period from February 12, 1920, to July 12, 1920. At this rate the net earnings for the Cornelia for 4.86 days would be $3,523.50.
    The claimed loss of the plaintiffs on account of the idle-time of the Cornelia in New York, approximately 4% days, the result of missing her schedule, is as follows:
    Net earnings at $725 per day_$3,406.00
    Crew’s wages- 650.09
    Crew’s subsistence_ 367.70
    Fuel oil, water, deck, and other supplies_ 371. 05
    Total- 4, 794. 84
    The plaintiff companies did not suffer any loss of pi-ofits by reason of the salvage service performed.
    XVI. The efficient success in the salvage operations resulted largely from the use of ground tackle which was provided by and laid by Government vessels.
    
      The Northern Pacific had four deck winches forward and a windlass and two steam capstans aft, which materially aided in the laying of ground tackle in the most advantageous manner, which contributed in large measure to the success of the salvage operations.
    Heavy ground tackle laid by the lighthouse tender Lilao (Findings VI, VII, VIII, and IX) was an important agency in floating the Northern Pacific and would have been the important factor in protecting the Northern Pacific had storms ensued.
    XVII. The service rendered was in inland waters and is classed as harbor salvage.
    Besides the Cornelia, the vessels materially assisting in the salvage service were the following, owned by the United States GoA^ernment:
    The lighthouse tender Lilac, 155 feet long, 26.5-foot beam, with derrick gear of 10 tons lifting capacity, with horsepower about 800, and valued in May, 1920, at $200,000;
    The Navy tug Potomac, equipped >vith triple-expansion engine, and with a horsepower of 2,000, carrying 4 officers and 39 petty officers and men, and valued in May, 1920, at $160,000;
    The Navy vessel Ortolan, a steel mine sweeper, built in 1919, having triple-expansion engines of the horsepower of about 1,400, with 5 officers and 39 men on board, with a powerful steam towing engine, and of a fair market value in May, 1920, of $450,000;
    The U. S. Army engineer tug San Luis,, about 123 feet long, the value of which in May, 1920, does not appear.
    The Navy tug Osceola, gross tons 388, having triple-expansion engines with horsepower about 800, arrived the morning the vessel came off the reef, but did not assist. Her services were available if required. She carried 4 officers and 25 men, and in May,. 1920, was of the fair market value of $120,000;
    The Lilac was engaged on the salvage work approximately 3.26 days; the Potomac, 2 days; the Ortolan, 0.1 day; and the San Luis, 0.6 day.
    The court decided that plaintiffs were entitled to recover $30,000, to be apportioned as follows: To the Bull Insular S. S. Co. as owner of the vessel, Cornelia, $10,000; to the Bull Insular Line, to which the vessel was chartered, $10,000; and the .balance, $10,000, to be distributed by the plaintiff Bull Insular S. S. Co. among the officers and crew of said vessel in proportion to the wages received by them as shown by the findings.
   Geabcam:, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case involves the one question of the amount of award for salvage service rendered by the S. S. Cornelia to the Army transport Northern Pacific, which went aground on the shoals in the harbor of San Juan, Porto Pico, on Sunday, May 9,1920, about 4 p. m.

The Cornelia was owned by the Bull Insular Steamship Co., which had chartered her on a time basis to the Bull Insular Line, manning the vessel and furnishing all supplies except the fuel. The charter provided that all salvage should be “ for the owners’ and charterers’ equal benefit.”

The facts are fully set out in the findings, and it is not necessary to repeat them. The Cornelia did not unassisted salvage, and could not have salved, the vessel. It acted in the capacity of an anchor through hawsers attached to the two vessels, and assisted in holding the Northern Pacific in place, and possibly assisted some, though it is impossible to say how much, in getting it afloat. The principal instru-mentalities in finally floating the vessel were the steel hawsers and ground tackle which were attached to the tugs nnd lighters owned by the United States.

As soon as the Northern Pacific went aground she was immediately filled with water ballast, weighing her down to jmevent her from moving farther up on the shoal. The dangers and risks to the Northern Pacific were not serious, nor were those to the Cornelia. The weather was not stormy and the ship was in a relatively protected position in the h.arbor.

With the exception of the movement caused by the swell, which resulted in a gentle striking fore and aft with the rise and fall of the water, the Northern Pacific made no change in her position from the time of grounding until the time she came clear of the shoal.

The Northern Pacvfie at the time of the services was a United States Army troop transport, a purchase of the Shipping Board, and was 525 feet in length, with a beam of 63 feet 1 inch. She was equipped with three Parsons direct-connected turbines, with three propellers. She was of 26,900 shaft and 28,000 indicated horsepower. She was well equipped and well found in every respect. Her value at the time of the services was $2,850,000.

The Cornelia was a steel freight steamship, in first-class condition, of 2,003 net and 3,216 gross tonnage, 328 feet in length, 46-foot beam, and 27 feet deep. Her draft was 17 feet aft and 12 feet forward. She was an oil burner and carried a crew of 35, 4 of whom were licensed engineers and 4 licensed deck officers. Her general cargo amounted to about 1,600 tons. Her ordinary cruising speed was 12 knots. Her value was $812,700, and the value of her cargo was $253,662 additional.

The question is the amount of award under all the circumstances to which the plaintiffs are entitled. Government property is subject to a claim of salvage, and this court has jurisdiction under the Tucker Act. United States v. Cornell Steamboat Co., 202 U. S. 184, 190. The award is in the nature of a reward for meritorious conduct and benefit conferred. “ Salvage is a reward or recompense given to those by means of whose labor, intrepidity or perseverance a ship or goods have been saved from shipwreck, fire, or capture.” It is not a mere compensation for work and labor. Circumstances of public considerations, the interests of commerce, the benefit and security of navigation, and the lives of seamen render it proper to estimate a salvage reward upon a more liberal scale. Cope v. Vallette Dry Dock Co., 119 U. S. 625, 628.

The facts found show that the total expenses of the plaintiff while employed in this service amounted to $6,-647.28, and that the daily net earnings of the Cornelia for the same period of time amounted to $3,523.50, a total of' $10,170.78.

Plaintiffs urge a demurrage claim for loss of earnings,, wages of crew, subsistence, and fuel for the time the Cornelia was idle at New York by reason of her missing her regular-sailing. Another boat owned by plaintiffs was substituted on the schedule and went out in her place, taking the cargo which she would have taken. This claim is in effect one for los.s of profits, and to that extent it is too remote and speculative. There were strikes in force both at New York and San Juan at the time, which might have caused the delay. Aside from this the court has found that the delay in New York was due to failure of cargo offers.

There is another question which it is not necessary to decide here, and that is, whether the rule allowing demurrage in salvage cases is not confined to cases of collisions. The case of The Blackwall, 10 Wall, 1, 13, cited in plaintiffs’ brief, held:

“ Courts of admiralty usually consider the following circumstances as the main ingredients in determining the amount of the reward to be decreed for a salvage service: (1) The labor expended by the salvors in rendering the salvage service; (2) the promptitude, skill, and energy displayed in rendering the service and saving the property; (3) the value of the property employed by the salvors in rendering the service, and the danger to which such property was exposed; (4) the risk incurred by the salvors in securing the property from the impending peril; (5) the value of the property saved; (6) the degree of danger from which the property was rescued.
“ Compensation as salvage is not viewed by the admiralty courts merely as pay, on the principle of a quantum meruit, or as a remuneration pro opere et labore, but as a reward given for perilous services, voluntarily rendered, and as an inducement to seamen and others to embark in such undertakings to save life and property.
“ Public policy encourages the hardy and venturous mariner to engage in these laborious and sometimes dangerous enterprises, and with a view to withdraw from him every temptation to embezzlement and dishonesty, the law allows him, in case he is successful, a liberal compensation.”

Considering the foregoing rule, the court must, in reaching-its conclusion as to the amount of salvage, be controlled by its best judgment under all the circumstances of the case. In. Anew of the service rendered by Government boats and the-relative service rendered by the plaintiffs in this case, we: think that the award should be $30,000. Of this amount $10,000 should be awarded to the officers and crew, to be divided among them by the Bull Insular Steamship Co. in proportion to the wages they were receiving as set out in Finding IY, and the balance of $20,000 should be awarded to the plaintiffs. As the charter of the vessel provides that salvage shall be “ for the owners’ and charterers’ equal benefit,” the Bull Insular Steamship Co. should receive $10,000 and the Bull Insular Line (Inc.) $10,000. Judgment should be entered accordingly.

Hat, Judge; Booth, Judge; and Campbell, OMef Justice, concur.