The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-13
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
BEFORE JUDGE WEBB.


WEDNESDAYS muel r. Crower ct ais, libel
lantS vs. The Union Ice Company.
The llbe laLts are owners OF the four masted
m asurement. The defendant corporation is In
the ice business at Bangor. Maine, with docks and
The ibeants claim that In May, $50. the Wey-
bossett went to Orrington under charter to load
with ice at the company's houses; that the vessel
was hight, strong and In every way Seaworthy;
that upon arrival the captain asked Mr.. Sargent
upsrintendent of the company II the berth was
Sersh except there was BED Of edsnp wa ana goSa
dust, which would be under her. forward. but IL
WIS SOFT and the vessel would be apt to cut right
into it; that T. captain told him Il the berth was
not good he didn, want to lie there Sargent
SAID u was all right and they hauled In and COM
menced loading; thar this being, Thursday, the
next Monday the captain was told by the supern-
tendent or foreman of the in company that he
would not have the vessel loaded before the next
day, Tuesday, to 20 out on the morning tide; thai
thereupon the captain left the vessel Monday
morning and wen To Bangor and did not return
unit tuesday morning; that the vessel grounded
mat afternoon and in the evening was discovered
TO be Il aking and her pumps which were run by
steam and IN good repair were not able to tree
her A tug was sent for to pump her out but
nothing was done until the next morning when ID
was found thai her spring stays were slack, her
showing that she taken ground on an uneven
bottom. bearing forward and ait with no support
amdships thus causing her with the heavy cargo
OF ice IN her to settle in the center and bge.
survey was called and under the recommended
tion of The su veyors she was beached ther- be-
ing nv ObutI uiCdHo VI itpdirulS HbT, on a suitable
beach IN proper manner and properly secured
with lis to port her cargo still in her. While
unnaiesgoing Temporary repairs the ,.spies. to
secured pulled up or gave way, letting
the vessel tall clean over on her side causin
hr @ Of zee Tena p
she was lowed to Boston where she was repaired
at an expense of $4,000.
The libellants claim that the depth of water at
the lading berth was unknown to the master
ana That Il was represented to be salable berth
as above stated; that instead of being as repre-
senlen Dy Mr. Sargent 1t was unsafe. da ger us
and defective, and that the damage above stated
aeslteh Iherrtro,n; They claim to recover as for
On the part Of the defendant company, it is
contended that the "Weybossett" being built in
1864, had been through many disasters, sprung
aleak several times at sea, been aground in Bos.
ton harbor, and at the time OF the sccdent 10 the
Penobscot river was not 10 a stauncn and sea
that Mr.. Sargent told the master exactly the
STATE OF tn bottom of the BERTH, to the pile of
sdsIRgs o t tns,sr his vessel being longer
lie further on to the edgings. He also told him,
whic which was the fact that an experienced diver
mad examined the berth and found no rocks nor
anything In his estimation tn It would iniure the
bot ON OF vessel. During all this conversaii ion
the vessel was being made fast to the pier The.
defendants claim that Mr. Sargent did not guar
antee the safety OF the berth, but simply stated
the iae es IN regard TO it that the captain and
the wharf but allow ed the stern and breast lines
TO become slack, letting the stern swing out some
III,
other pile of ehgings in the river; that Mr.. Sar-
gent told the Off ;ers of the vessel he would have
tbe vessel loaded Monday night and would have
atug there to haul her up to another dock where
she could lie afoat, as he did not think it wise for
so large vessel 10 lie aground. heavily loaded as
she was. With S66 tons of ice
In her; that the vessel was loaded by
q o'clock that night and the tug came TO tow her
out, but the captain and mate were both away.
where tn crew did not know; that In the night
when the vessel was found to be filling with
water, mes engers were sent to Bangor, aud the
captain found at an hotel. The mate did not make
mr. appearances until the next morning The de-
fendants claim that If the officers hal attended Ia
their duys ana DFen ss5UaSd~ when the tug came SO
snS co Id have been t0wed ont no damage
would have occurred. They further claim that
thu re was but little damage to the vessel by rea-
son OF any stTa received in the dock; that the
great hulk of the Injury received by The disas-
Ter after she wa. beached, for which they are il
10 way RESI- onSble.
These are only few of the main facts and
claims In the case. The evidence for the defend
ante was In progress when the court adjourned
last night,
Charles Theodore Russell of Boston a"d Clar.
ence Hale represent the libellants, VIM. L Put
nam and Chas. T. Stetson of Bangor the defend
ants,