The Sun.
London, England, 1804-01-05 00:00:00

RT.,

COURT OF com Moll PLEAS, DEC. r;.

Llll {. CEAL.

Tut Plaintiffis a person in inferior circumstances.
The Dt'fendant, the son of. a tobacconist, had mar-
ried hg daughter, Whom .Ceal had deserted, and
this was an aaion of damages brought by Laik to
recover the amount expended her maintenance,
during the abience of he(husband. A great variety
of witnesses were produced_ on both-sides, and the
trial was protraled, when
Mr. Justice CxnMßse made his observations to.
the Jury. "It is the duty of a
,husband, by law, to
support his wife ;Lard if:it be not the legal duty, it is
at least the:Christial duty of .a .father to maintain
his a.lughter,wbela tahandoned. This is an of ion for
damages, cornmihced by a father-in-law-against his
son..in-,law, and the rule of, law is, that if the hus-
band leave his wife, he leaves with her a credit
united- to her rank and. degree, and to all debts.
agreeable to.that rank and. degree he- is liable. It
appears, in this case, that tile rank of the husband
was of the lowest order—that his -labour was ne- A
cessary for his own support—and that the wife
equally capable of procuring her maintenance by the:7:
same exertions. It will likewise be recolleeted,,:ibat,:
she aced in the-capacity of a servant ta.thepresent
Plaintiff."

Verdift for the Plaintiff Damages One Shilling.

DECEMBER 16.

NEWMAN V. WALTERS.

This was an adiOn brought to recover from the
Defendant the salvage of the Ship Raw), Cams, and
cargo, which the PlaintitF had saved from shipwreck.
Mr. Serjeanr SHRPHERD opened-the cause with
stating to the Jury, that the Defendant in this case
was the owner of the ship and cargo in ltiestiori;
whicl together had.cost him 90001. and `that he had
put on board of her GeOrge gohnston, as commander,
to ,navigate her to St. Kitt's. That the Plaintiff,
who was well acquainted with Capt. Johnston, was
a passenger ;• that on the 29-th of March, 113o;;the
Betsey- Gains sailed from• London, and on the rgth
of April following (when 'they were offPortsMontit),
having some squally weather, • her. Commander (who
on more than one occasion 'during this short trip,,_
had shewn some instances both of ignorance and
. alarm), thoughtArtlO-Wiirke a signal for a pilot, and,
in consequence of whischWbne Thomas: Davies came
on board.- This pilot., was, however,' suffered by
the Commander to:Vt;Very drunk, and about eleven
I• o'clock the same evening, when the wind was blow_
ing fresh, and the night very dark, the vessel
struck on Chichester shoals. She continued- to strike
very hard, and the Captain, alarmed for his own
safety, without considering tither the passengers or
his crew, declared she was bilged, and ordered out
one of -his boats, in which he,' with three of his
sailors, maur4. their escape, leaving the disconsolate
passengers under the proieaion-ot a drunken Pilot,
and in a ship which he himself had stated to have a
hole in her bottom, In this situation, in the 'middle
of the night, with the vessel grating hard against a
rock, with a high wind, a Pilot drunk, and-without
a Commander, . were left, the ship, tl. t. cargo,' the
remainder of the crew, ard all the passengers, 'who
were'neither inconsiderable in number or in respec-
tability. The Pilot, who had through fear teCover-,
ed ,from drunkenness, though not to his senses, or.
dered an anchor immediately to be let go,. an aft
by-which it is apprehended few vessels are got off
rocks. It was not till now. the Plaintiff ever Inter.
fered ; and certainly it was high time, for the
very aft of letting go the anchor, would in a few
minutes have sent them all to a watery grave ; he
would :not let it be done ;, hut instantly shifting the
helm to hard-a.:port,•-• mid trimming her sails, he;
about 12.P.M. through very great exertion (as the
wind was blowing hard, with a heavy sea), succeed.
ed in getting her. off the rocks. The passengers,
conscious, that they .owed their lives to 'Captain
Newman, requestedi-tinv;lo continue in -the cam-
mand, which ire didotindoubnut 9 o'clock, A.M.
the next day, moored::ithe- ship,-, her cargo, her
crew,- and her passengssfreg in Ramsgate- harbour,
in perfed safety. It- was on those grounds 'that
the Plaintiff . set up his claim to a salvage of Loh.
per cent, on the ship and cargo; as he considered
himself the only instrument ,by which the property
had ;reached a port. The Learned Courhel also
stated,, that on. the ship's arrival at . Ram—sgate,
Newman made a protest, setting forth the particulars,
of. click different situations.;, aS also did the mate,
carpenter, and boatswain, who 'in their protest as-
serted that the vessel.had been saved owing to nau-
tied' ability and the uncommon exertion of Captain
Newman. •

M. Thomas Gardner and Mr. P. T. Tudor, who
were both passengers, proved Capt. Johnston's leay.
ing the ship; alto that the mare, carpenter, boat.
swain, and the remaining part of the crew, put
themselves under the command of the Plaintiff., and
obeyed his orders.

Mr. Serjeant COCZELL, for the Defendant, eon.
tended, that the Plaintiff was not entitled to any
sum by way of salvage ; for his nautical ability and
uncommon exertion were not used for the preserva-
tion of the property, but for the express purpose of
self. preservation.

Lord ALIANLEY, in summing up the evidence,
was of opinion that the,Plaintiff was not entitled to
any sum as for salvage, but for a remuneration for
his exertions in saving the vessel he certainly was ;
for the Jury would recollea, that he. had the same
opportunity of leaving the ship as Captain Johnston
had, as there was another boat left, and that of a
larger size, consequently more sea-worthy ; but he
had preferred:risking his life to save the property of
the Defendant, and most assuredly ought to be paid
fur such risk. .

The Jurxgave a verdia for Plaintiff, in fool.

'The low grounds in the vicinity of the Severn,
.
have been completely inundated by the lace very
heavy rains. During the height of rthe flood, on
Sunday Ee'nnight, as two boys, named Joseph Wil-
liams and, William Cook, w..ere direding two per-
sons.v horseback along Maisemore-causeway, near
Gloucester, .which was at that time under water,