The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-02-25
LAWS PROTECT SAILORS.
Many Curious Decisions Grow Out Of
LITIGATION in Gases on Sea.

New York, Feb. ga fight soon is
to be made to determine how great
Il reward shall be paid to the German
steamer Erika for the salvage OF an.
other German steamer, the Nar2in.
! The Erika sailed from New York
few weeks ago bound for Fayal and
other ports. When several days out
she sighted the Varzin lying helpless
| in the trough of the sea. She immedi.
ately gave the disabled freighter
| tow line and headed with her for Bos-
| ton.
| The question when all this will
bring up is what compensation the
Erika shall get for the salvage of the
Varzin. That the latter was valu
able prize is shown by the fact that
| it had cargo worth 100000. II
carried $4,000 bags of wool, and was
one of the richest laden ships that
ever sailed from an Australian port.
Jurisdiction over this case will be
taken by the admiralty courts of
Germany, since both vessels are of
German register. The recompense
of the Erika will be based on the de-
! gree of danger, the value of the res
| Cued cargo, the loss of time, and such
other evidence as may be submitted.
/ Maritime usage often works queer
the statutes of the different countries.
, The case of the Republic, the first
| anniversary of whose sinking occur
! red a few days ago, affords notable
illustration of this. The English own
ers of the Republic have sought to
have all litigation growing out of her
sinking take place in the courts of
the United States. The Americans
| and the Italians concerned preferred
that this litigation should take place
in England.
| The reason of all this is not far
to seek. American and Italian mari
time laws provide that the liability
value of the ship itself. The English
law fixes the limit of damages at
$4,000 per life lost, and $40 for each
ton of gross register. The owners Of
the Republic would have been liable
| for double as much in the English
as in the American or Italian courts.
The Oceanic was being towed by a
tug not long ago, and it was shown
that she was injured by colliding with
the tug. The case was brought into
| the courts, and by way of defense
the tug owners exhibited a contract
in which the tow assumed all re-
sponsibility for damage. The court
held that when this was done an acct
dent growing out of the plain negli-
gence of the crew of the tug could
not give grounds for the recovery of
! damag =.
| In another case the charterer of a
ship agreed to unload her. Among
other things on board were some boil
ers weighing many tons. The char.
terer employed the captain and the
first mate to superintend the job. They
tried to use the main mast as a part
of the necessary hosting tackle, but
it buckled and broke. The ship own
ers sued the charterer for damages.
| His defense was that he had employed
their agents to superintend the job,
and that the ship owners were respon-
sible for the acts of their agents.
The court held that the captain and
mate were acting as the charterer's
agent when the accident happened
A curious situation has come about
under the coastwise shipping laws of
| the United States. In order to insure
all the coastwise traffic to vessels of
American register a fine is provided
! for every person or dollars worth of
merchandise carried between Ameri-
can ports on foreign vessels.
One of the big tourist agencies has
a tourist steamer making trip around
the world. 1t will reach the Pacific
seaboard this summer. Under the
shipping laws if it lands its passen-
gers at San Francisco it will be liable
| to heavy fine. If it takes them to
Vancouver it will escape the fine. OF
| course everyone realizes that the
coastwise shipping laws never were
| intended to cover such cases, and it is
not improbable that the steamship
/ company will take the bit in it's teeth,
| lduu llS passengers anu luell Jest the
constitutionality of the law in so far
as it is held to apply to such cases.
One of the most interesting phases
of maritime law is the general look
out that must be kept for derelicts.
The United States photographic Office
keeps careful account of all derelicts
through the reports it receives and the
knowledge of ocean currents which it
possesses. In one of its rooms there
is kept big map of the seas. On this
map, starting at various points, are
! irregular lines traced with chalk. At
the end of each line is a pin to which
/ is attached a tag. Each day the line
is heightened and the pin moved that
much further. On the tag attached TO
each pin is the name of the derelict
which it represents. By this method
! the chart shows the probable position
of each derelict each day in the week.
Bottles are frequently turned loose
in the sea, the exact spot of release
| noted, and the place of their picking
/ up recorded. In this way the hydro.