The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-08-12
DECISION AS TO
OBEY|NG WARNING
Federal Court Judge Holds That Tug
Captain Who Paid no Attention
to Weather Bureau,
10 Negligent.
TRUSTED HIS OWN IDEA
No Man Has Right to PIT His Own
Opinions Against Those OF Ex-
perieneed Experts, the
Judge Says.
HIS OWN IDEA


States weather bureau, judge in
New York has held that the insurance
company which libelled the tug and
sued for the return of money paid on
barges and cargo is entitled to re-
cover. This decision was made by
Judge Hough of the district court OF
the United States, southern district
of New York in the case of the
Providence-Washingt Insurance
company VS.. the steam tug Saluta-
ton. Leonard NJ. Tarr and the storm
warning displayman OF Bridgeport,
Conn, were summoned as witnesses
in the case by the insurance company.
On March /, 1914. the tug left
Bridgeport harbor with Ave boats In
tow. When off. Charles Island in
heavy storm, the master OF the tug
cut four of them adrift and they
foundered later. The insurance COM
pany paid nearly $4,000 on the boats
and their cargoes, and then libeled
the tug for and sued for return Of
their money. On the trial of the
case it was shown that before the tug
left Bridgeport, storm warnings were
displayed and the barometer was fall
ing, and that these warnings were
disregarded by the Salutation whose
master followed his own opinion, al
though it was not shared by other
captains in the harbor.
Trust Bureaus Experience.
In closing his decision Judge
Hough says:
mo man has right to put his own
opinion against the result of many
years Of experience"
The ntc woro granted the de.
crees prayed for, together with the
costs.
In the memorandum Of the decision
the court finds that the tug had come
up from New York harbor with eight
boats, three of them destined for
Bridgeport. She arrived at Bridge
port before 3 o'clock on the morning
of March 1 and lay there until her
departure at 1880.
ION the preceding day (February
2S), cautionary storm signals had
been hoisted all along the coast and
particularly had the storm nag been
put out on Flagstaff overlooking
Bridgeport harbor.
This flag was flying when the
Salutation came into Bridgeport har-
Dor and inquiry at the station Of the
official observer would have told an
interested captain that the warning
was against shifting gales
Before 4 a. M, the master OF the
Salutation was on shore at Bridge
port and reported his whereabouts by
telephone to the home Office in New
York.
Could Have Found Out.
while he had come into Bridge
- @>1s "a q
consigned there, he remained in port
nearly ten hours waiting upon the
weather which he himself regarded
as threatening until shortly before
his departure He did not observe
the storm signal; he made no inquiry
as to what the New York office might
know about the weather, and has
frankly testified Gin substance) that
he usually preferred his own weather
wisdom to that of the government
service.
Eat 1898 a. m, March /, an addi-
tional storm warning WIS received
by the New Haven observer who i'm
mediately communicated the same by
telephone to the Office of the New
Haven Towing company, concern
identified in interest, If not identical
with the owners of the Sanitation.
ut was thus possible for those VINO
controlled the tug to know ana send
word to the master that there had
been two storm warnings sent out
within twenty-four hours, but the
land offices OF the tug company ap-
parently entertained the same con-
tempt for official warning as did Cap
tain Kniffen."
Some other captains thought there
was to be storm, the decision finds,
but they mistook the direction In
which 1t might come. The decision
also goes into the question OF bare
meter readings and speaks at some
length of the accuracy of this instru-
ment in showing storm approaches.
The barometer had been failing for
two days and on the last day reached
depression almost unexampled in
the history of the bureau, the de-
cision finds.
confesses His Negligence.
at therefore stands confessed" the
court SAYS, that the Salutation went
out of Bridgeport harbor in fnten-
tional ignorance of anything and
everything the weather bureau adj
vised in the expectation Of west
ern storm and low and long falling
barometer.
The legal inquiry is whether such
actions constitute reasonable pru-
dence. In my opinion even without
the weather bureau warnings the con-
dition of the barometer and the &C
knowledged expectation Of storm from
the west were enough to render 1t
proper to stay In port. But it was
also negligence not even to inquire
for the official weather reports. No
man has a right to put his own
opinion against the result OF many
years Of experience"
l Comics Of this decision have been