Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-20

NE III to determine how great
E reward shall be paid to the
M ID 8 German steamer Erika for
IW "a the salvage of another Ger
ihlszAA1l1Ezsk2 man steamer, the Varztn.
The Erika sailed from New
York a few weeks ago bound for Fayal
and other ports. When several days
out she sighted the Varzin lying help
less in the trough of the sea. She I'M
mediately gave the disabled freighter
tow line and headed with her to
Boston. The question which all this
will bring up is what compensation the
Erika shall get for the salvage of the
Varzin. Thas the latter was Yalu-
able prize is shown by the fact that
it had a cargo worth $3,000,000. 1t car
ried 10000 bags of wool, and was one
of. the richest laden ships that ever
sailed from an Australian port. Jurls-
diction over this case will be taken
by the admiralty courts of Germany,
since both vessels are of German regis
ter The recompense of the Erika VIII
be based on the degree of danger, the
value of the rescued cargo, tn loss OF
time, and such other evidence as may
be submitted.
Maritime usage often works queer
anomalies, owing to the variations OF
the statutes of different countries.
The case of the Republic, the first an
niversary of whose sinking occurred
few days ago, affords notable Illus
tration of this. The English owners 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 ltal-
ians concerned preferred that TINS iltl-
cation should take place in England.
The reason of all this is not far to
seek. American and Italian maritime
laws provide that the liability of snip
owners shall never exceed the 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 Amerl-
can or italian courts.
The Oceanic was being toWed by
tug not long ago, and it was shown
that she was injured by collldlng 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 responsible
lity for damage. The court held that
when this was done an accident grow
ing out of the plain negligence OF the
crew of the tug could not give grounds
for the recovery of damages. In an
other case the charterer of a ship
agreed to unload her. Among other
things on board were some boilers
weighing many tons. The charterer
employed the captain and the first mate
to superintend the job. They tried to
use the main mast as a part of the
necessary hoisting tackle, but 1t buc-
kled and broke. The ship owners sued
the charterer for damages. His de-
fense was that he had employed their
agents to superintend the job, and that
the ship owners were responsible for
the acts of their agents The court
held that the captain and mate were
acting as the charterer's agents 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 American
ports on foreign vessels. One of the
big tourist agencies has a tourist
steamer making trip around the
world. It will reach the Pacific sea-
board this summer. Under the ship
ping laws if it lands its passengers at
San Francisco it will be liable to
heavy fine. If 1t takes them to Van
cOuN6F II VIII eSCdpC tllO lliS' vi NOdl %
everyone realizes that the coastwise
shipping laws never were intended to
cover such cases, and it Is not improb-
able that the steamship company will
take the bit in its teeth, land its pas
sengers and then test the constitution
ality 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 lookout
that must be kept for derelicts. The
United States photographic office keeps
careful account of all derelicts through
the reports it receives and the knowl-
edge Of ocean currents which it pos
sesses. In one of its rooms there is
kept a 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