The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-10-16
DAMAGES
FOR SAILOR
Judge Estee Finds That
N Capt. Graham Was
Negligent.

cred his decision in the admiralty suit
for $4,000 damages brought by Julius
A. Schumacher against the ship Frs
| kline NJ. Phelps, whereof R. J. Ora
ham is master. He awarded eighteen
| hundred dollars together with costs of
suit to the libellant. T. McCants Stew
art and J. j. Dunno appeared for libel
liant, and Holmes & Stanley and Rob-
ert w. Breckons for libellees.
The court found that no evidence
had been adduced to prove the allega-
tons of carelessness in loading the
vessel as against the owners. Neither
| was there proof of a failure in the
legal obligations of vessel owner re-
garding food supply or proper care in
case of sickness.
The case then narrowed itself down
into the single proposition of whether
it was reasonably possible for the cap
tain Of the ship to have obtained prop
er medical care and attention for this
| man after the accident happened which
resulted in the breaking of his leg.
Judge Estee discusses this proposition
at length, among other things making
| the following deliverances:
On August 6, 1903, the ship was less
! than nine hundred miles from VAL
paraiso, less than eight hundred miles
| from Valdivia, both on the coast of
| Chill; while on August 19th, the ship
was within 202S miles of Tahiti and 2426
miles from Tai-o-hae in the Marquesas.
/ AT all of these ports, it is well known,
| if not actually in evidence, that medi-
cal and surgical aid could have been
! obtained.
| Any man of common intelligence
| knows that a man not professionally
| educated in surgery, acting as the
mate of a ship, cannot properly set
limb when broken, and the photographs
/ of this mans leg, taken with the X
| ray, show clearly that his limb was not
properly set, although it was done with
the primitive knowledge claimed by
| the mate.
| Notwithstanding the statements of
| DR.. Cooper to the contrary, 1 think
voyage of nearly seventy-seven hun
! dred miles across the ocean is a severe
test of the physical endurance of a man
| suffering with a broken leg crudely
set by one admittedly without surgical
knowledge.
| &
| The Captain seemed to have been
| peculiarly Indifferent in reference to
the whole matter. He never went to
| see this man but twice, once imme-
diately after the occurrence of the &C
cident, again the next day when he
| told him he could do nothing for him,
but that the mate would attend to
| him. The Captain himself testified
that after ordering the mate to attend
| to Hbellant he only saw him, with the
exception of these two instances cited
through the skylight of the forecastIe
| where the man lay. In fact he SEEM
ed to avoid coming in contact with
! this man. And even after the vessel
arrived in Honolulu, Captain Graham
| went "about the ships business as
he testified, for nearly three days with
out having the libellant sent to a hos
pital where he could have received
treatment. Libellant should have been
sent to the hospital at once upon the
arrival of the vessel and he should
have been paid the wages then due him;
| and not have been sent alone finally to
| the U. S. Marine Division of the
| Queens hospital without any money,
with a slight knowledge of the Eng
lish language and unable to walk.
AS to the evidence of the captain and
some of his witnesses, who were mas
tiers of vessels like himself, that the
port of Port Stanley was a dangerous
one to make, this seems directly con-
Trajectory of the history of that port.
1t is we'll known that for many years
ships have put in there for supplies,
| and that now there are in the town
of Port Stanley, repair shops, where, in
| the language of a we'll known author
ity. the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
| (Werner's Edition published in 1900,
ships can be repaired and provided in
every way, much better and more
safely than at any of the South Amer
lean ports,-a matter of much import
ance, seeing that a greater amount of
injury is done annually to shipping
passing near Cape Horn by severe
wea Their, than in any other locality in
the world. The average number of YES
| sells entering STANLEY HaTDOr IN the
| year is about fifty with an aggregate
tonnage of 10000; of this number a
fourth arrive in distress and are re-
paired at Stanley.
The evidence of the Captain further
disclosed that he could have reached
Valparaiso within twenty-five days af-
ter the first accident occurred, and on
August 9Th could have sailed there in
nine days. While there is some evil
dence showing that up to within 300
miles of Honolulu, he could have more
readily reached the Ports of Papeete
on the Island of Tahiti, or Tai-o-hae in
the Marquesas, where surgical aid
could have been obtained. Such a pos
sibility never seemed to have entered
into the calculations of the captain as
he made no efforts to make any port
but his port of destination. And while
it is said libellant did not ask to be
taken to nearest port for aid, yet that
did not relieve the captain of his duty
in the matter. The former may have
been ignorant of his rights and so
failed to have asked to have them en-