Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-13
LAME DUCKS IN PORT.
NO SENTIMENT AMONG SEAMEN
ABOUT DISABLED SHIPS.

Crews Leave Their Vessels on Arrival
and the Owners Underwriters Pay
for the Cost of Repairs-What Some of
the Damage to Big Boats Cost.
In the season of gales, when vessels,
sometimes called lame ducks, come into
port with the loss of spars, sails aud rig
gng, and sometimes with the loss of men,
the readers of stories of the sea have Il
certain amount of sentiment aroused, but
the captains, agents and owners of vessels
take more practical views Of the subject,
and sentiment has very little consideration
in their minds when the damages are under
inspection. Although the vessels may
have been at the mercy of winds aud waves
for many days, with officers and crews
struggling for life and the safety OF the
vessels and cargoes, the damages are con
sidered in their relations to dollars and
cents.
If it be the end of vessels voyage, the
crew goes ashore for good, leaving the cap
tain to have the damage repaired mt the eX-
pense of the owners or the underwriters
Sentimentality has very little lodgment in
the makeup of an ordinary seaman.
AS rule seamen are interested more in
getting their pay and shipping as soon as
possible on another vessel than in standing
by disabled vessel and helping the cap
tain out of a bad scrape, and, as a matter
of cold fact, common semen could not do
the repairing if they would. They may
know all the ropes and sails and be able to
handle them iii all kinds of weather, but
the rigging of vessel is beyond their abil-
tiles, except for temporary repairs while ut
sea.
Expert sparmakers, shipwrights and rig
gers have to be employed as soon as dis
abled vessel reaches port to repair the
damages properly, and that part of the
business of seaboard city is considerable
at times although the advent of steam
vessels has made it less and less every year
On the arrival of a disabled vessel sew
eraI questions arise in regard to the liabil-
ity for the cost of repairs.
THE CAPTAINS AUTHORITY.
Suppose vessel has been struck by a
hurricane and hove down on her beam
ends The captain has to determine
whether he can save the vessel or abandon
her at the first opportunity. Thousands
of dollars depend on his judgment and ac-
tions at a time when the clearest headed
man might be fustered. He can cut away
.ome of the spars and right the vessel, or
he can throw away some of the cargo, or
ne can do both if necessary.
If he cuts away the vessel, thereby sacri-
icing part of the vessel in order to save
the cargo, and takes the vessel safely into
port, the cargo can be assessed for part
of the cost of repairs, the mark Of an AK or
a Ratchet, the particulars of the log and
the affidavit of the captain being evidence
in the case The cargo can be assessed also
in the case of vessel that has been com
PEELED to pay an cXorbtant bin for towage
in order to reach port and save the cargo
after having been dismasted or otherwise
damaged beyond the power or ability of
the captain to repair.
But if Il vessel loses some of her spars,
sails and rigging in a gale, and the marks
of an AK indicate only the efforts of the
crew to relieve the vessel Of wroCkage, the
owners or underwriters have to pay the
entire cost of repairs. If the cost of re-
pairs be less than 5 per cent. of the amount
of the insurance, the underwriters do not
pay it, but if the cost be considerable,
or equal to the insurance for part loss, the
underwriters pay it, after cutting OIL one
third for what may be called new life on
account of new material
A captain never gives up the command
of vessel, although she may be under he
supervision of the underwriters while in
port. As soon Us the captain Of n disabled
vessel has reported to the owners or agents
in port he applies to the underwriters for
a survey of the vessel.