The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-13
DAMAGES GIVEN
INJURED SAILOR
JUDGE SPEER AWARDS $500
TO JUAN de MARTINEZ, WHOSE
LEG WAS BITTEN OFF by SHARK.

Damages Awarded On GrOund That
Captain of the s'NIarsheFita" Was
Negligent in Not Putting Into the
Nearest Port-Courts Have Held
That Captains Must Put to Near
est Port aud Give Injured Sailor
Medical Aid--sufferings of Mar
tinez Were Terrible.
Juan de la Cruz Silva Martinez, the
Gillian sailor whose leg was bitten off
by a shark in water near the Falkland
Islands, has been awarded $1,000 dam
ages by Judge Emory Sneer. The de-
eision of Judge Speer was handed down
yesterday morning. Martinez sued the
captain and owner of the Italian bark
Margherita for $4,000 damages,
The circumstances of the case are ia
miliar to readers of the Morning News.
Martinez fell from the yard-arm into
the sea and before he could be res
oued his leg was bitten off by shark
few inches below the knee. The two
grounds on which Martinez sought
damages were that the Yard-arm was
insecure, and the accident thus due to
negligence on the part of the owners
of the bark Margherita, and that the
captain of the bark was further negli-
gent in not putting into the nearest
port, Port Stanley,
The libellant was represented In the
case by Attorneys Walter G.. Charlton
and w. b. Stubs. Adams & Adams
i.
tail of the case was argued at length
during the session of the United States
court here in April last.
First Claim overruIed,
In his opinion Judge Speer overrules
the first ground for dana ges. He
holds that Martinez himself is not GER
tain as to how he came to fall from
the yard arm into the water, and that
the accident was the result of one of
the ordinary perils of navigation, and
1t follows that no recovery can be had
upon this ground.
The court then takes up the other
ground, neglect to put into the nearest
port and secure medical attention, and
it is on this that he awards the dam
ages. In discussing this feature Judge
Speer quotes many cases that have
been decided by higher courts, and
gives especial attention to a case
against a vessel, the Iroquois, in
which, though conditions were much the
same, the length of time that the COM
plainant suffered was shorter by nearly
a month.
Was Close TO Port stanley.
In discussing this feature, in con-
clusion, Judge Speer says:
This deliveranee seems to be au-
thoritative as to the duty of this court
in h.n he, Fol Inc
testimony of the master of the Mar
gherita as conclusive, his vessel was
as close to Port Stanley as was the
Iroquois to Valparaiso. The deviation
| to Port Stanley from his course would
not have been so great as that of the
| Irequois to the Chihan city. Accord
| ing to other testimony, he was in a
| very short distance of Port Stanley,
and this we believe to be true. AS in
| the case of the Iroquois, he knew that
he must cross the tropics.
There could be no doubt of the
| grave seriousness of the injury, none
that the captain was unable TO give
the wounded sailor the proper care.
| The consequences of delay to the in
terest of the ship owner must have
been trivial. The direction of the wind
was favorable and continuous. A COM
petent English surgeon would certain
iy have been found in the marine hos
pital at Port Stanley, That port is in
a heaithful climate and is widely
known as a harbor to which vessels
experiencing calamities of one sort and
another in rounding Cape Horn repair
for assistance. -.---.
LAS far back as the date of the latest
publication of the Encyclopedias Brit
tanica, it is stated that as many as
fifty vessels a year put in there on ac-
count of injuries. The British govern
ment keeps up considerable military
post at that point, How much strong
err, then, is the case against the mas
ter of the Margherita than against the
master of the Iroquois
His UnspeakabIe Agony.
ct is not difficult to conceive the
unspeakable agony, indeed, torture,
which the libellant must have ex-
perienced in his long voyage of more
than 1000 miles, to Savannah, with
the ragged extremity of his cruelty
wounded leg, eneased at times I'm a
box of hot tar and at other times
rudely bandaged by the kind, but in
experienced hands of his shipmates.
According TO his own testimony, his
sufferings were so great that he often
lost consciousness. This seems to have
been inevitable from the nature of his
injury and the terrible shock TO body
and mind it must have occasioned.
According to the testimony of the
physician in Savannah, his leg was in
a lamentabie condition when he reached
that port
1T is indispensable that i'm cases Of
serious injuries to seamen or in case
of their dangerous sickness, that in
order to obtain proper surgical or
medical assistance for them the courts
Of admiralty which proceeds ever up
on the broadest principles of humanity
and Justice, should inforce the reason-
able rules so frequently announced by
the courts, and as we have seen, so
clearly stated in the opinion Of the
Supreme Court In re The Iroquois,
supra.
Damages Are Awarded.