Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/173/430.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 11:02:49+00:00

Document:
The facts, in general, found by that court, were that appellants were lessees of wharf and water rights extending to the channel of the river, and the berth assigned to and taken by the schooner for the purpose of loading was in front of their wharf, and within the leased premises; that appellants were engaged in the business of crushing and shipping stone from the wharf to different points, and that the schooner had been brought up the river, by prearrangement with a ship broker in Georgetown, in order to be loaded by appellants at their wharf with crushed stone, to be taken to Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, to be used in government work at that place; that the vessel was staunch and in good repair, was a three-masted schooner of 600 tons capacity, was registered at the New York custom house as a coasting vessel of the United States, and was owned by appellees at the time of the injury complained of. It was further found 'that the vessel was sunk on [Sunday] the 6th of August, 1893, as she was moored in the berth at the wharf, while receiving her cargo of crushed stone from the wharf by means of a chute extended from the wharf to the hatchway of the vessel. The vessel [173 U.S. 430, 432] was about two-thirds loaded, having received about 400 tons of her cargo, before signs were discovered of her distressed condition. She was then taking water so rapidly that the pumps could not relieve her, nor could the extra assistance employed by the master avail to save her from breaking and sinking in the berth. The work of loading was stopped on Saturday evening, with the intention of re uming the work of loading on the following Monday morning; and the captain of the vessel, at the time of stopping work on Saturday, made soundings around the vessel, and supposed that she was then lying all right. But on Sunday morning it was discovered that there was so much water in her that she could not be relieved by her pumps; and by 5 o'clock on the afternoon of that day she had filled with water, and broke in the middle, and sank in her berth, where she remained, with her cargo under water, until the 1st of November, 1893, when the stone was pumped out of her, and she was then condemned as worthless, and was afterwards sold at auction for $25 to one of the owners.' Other findings of fact appeared in the opinion.
Appellants denied all negligence, and insisted that they were in no way responsible for the disaster, and in a cross libel asserted a claim for damages caused by the fault of appellees in allowing the vessel to sink in the river in front of their wharf, and to remain there for an undue time. The evidence was voluminous and conflicting.
R. D. Benedict, Nathaniel Wilson, Jas. S. Edwards, and Job Barnard, for appellants.
Wm. G. Choate, for appellees.
Undoubtedly there was jurisdiction in admiralty in the courts below, and the applicable principles of law are familiar. [173 U.S. 430, 433] Although a wharfinger does not guaranty the safety of vessels coming to his wharves, he is bound to exercise reasonable diligence in ascertaining the condition of the berths thereat, and, if there is any dangerous obstruction, to remove it, or to give due notice of its existence to vessels about to use the berths. At the same time, the master is bound to use ordinary care, and cannot carelessly run into danger. Railway Co. v. Steamboat Co., 23 How. 209; Sawyer v. Oakman, 7 Blatchf. 290, Fed. Cas. No. 12,402; Thompson v. Railway Co., 2 Best & S. 106; Id. 119; Trustees v. Gibbs, L. R. 1 H. L. 93; Carleton v. Steel Co., 99 Mass. 216; Nickerson v. Terrell, 127 Mass. 236; Barber v. Abendroth, 102 N. Y. 406, 7 N. E. 417.
The cases necessarily vary with the circumstances. In The Stroma, 42 Fed. 922, the libelant sought to recover damages received by its steamer, while moored alongside respondent's pier, by settling, with the fall of the tide, on the point of a spindle,-part of a derrick attached to a sunken dredge. Work was proceeding for the removal of the dredge, and several buoys had been set to indicate the place of its several parts. The agent of the steamer knew of the location of the wreck, [173 U.S. 430, 435] sought permission to moor outside of it, and undertook to put the ship in position. The liability to danger was as well known to the steamer as to the wharfinger, who made no representation, and was free from negligence. The libel was dismissed, and the decree was affirmed by this court. Panama R. Co. v. Napier Shipping Co., 166 U.S. 280 , 17 Sup. Ct. 572.
We are remitted, then, to the consideration of the facts; and as to them the rule is firmly established that successive decisions of two courts in the same case, on questions of fact, are not to be reversed, unless clearly shown to be erroneous. Towson v. Moore, 173 U.S. 17 , 19 Sup. Ct. 332; The Baltimore, 8 Wall. 382; The S. B. Wheeler, 20 Wall. 386; The Richmond, 103 U.S. 540 . And when the evidence is conflicting, there being evidence to sustain the decree, this court will not ordinarily interfere.
Tested by this rule, we must assume, on the record, that the vessel in question was chartered by appellants, through a ship [173 U.S. 430, 437] broker duly authorized, for the purpose of being loaded with a cargo of crushed stone, which would be about 600 tons, by appellants, at their wharf, to be discharged at Fortress Monroe; that the contract, which was oral, did not expressly name the number of tons to be loaded, nor guaranty the depth of water, nor the position of the vessel at the wharf, nor embody as part thereof the representations alleged to have been made in respect of the depth of the water; that there was a ridge of rock in the berth assigned to the vessel by appellants, projecting above the bottom of the river, and endangering her safety, even when only partially loaded; and that the vessel, though staunch, strong, and seaworthy, was wrecked by grounding on that rock.
We also think that the conclusions of the court of appeals, set forth in its opinion, that no ordinary skill or effort on the part of the master or owners could have been exercised effectively to save the vessel from total loss, and that the injury was not increased, nor the damages enhanced, by delay in attempting to raise and remove the vessel, cannot reasonably be questioned, and that we are not required to pass on the conflicting evidence in respect of the value of the vessel at the time of the injury. In other words, it must be held that the cross libel was properly dismissed, and that the amount of damages awarded is not open to inquiry.
As to knowledge or notice of the obstruction by appellants, the evidence tended to show that they had been for some years in the use of the wharf and of this particular berth; that they had under lease perhaps 2 1/2 miles of river front, containing stone quarries, some of which they were working; that their business was large, and that during the year 1893, before the accident, they had loaded from 15 to 20 vessels at the same place; that the c pacity of the crusher for loading vessels through the chute was from 150 to 200 tons a day; that they employed from 150 to 300 men, and at times many more, and had bins into which they ran crushed stone, to be carried off in various ways. It further appeared that in December, 1892, the two-masted schooner [173 U.S. 430, 438] Baird, carrying 500 tons, and, when loaded, drawing 14 feet, grounded in the same berth, manifestly on a rock, and that that fact and the character of her injuries were known to appellants. There was much other evidence bearing on this point of knowledge or notice, which fully sustained the court of appeals in its conclusion that appellants knew of the existence of the rock and its dangerous nature, or, if not, that absence of investigation amounted, under the circumstances, to such negligence as to impute notice.
But the stress of the argument is that the master was guilty of negligence which contributed to the injury, and chiefly in not ascertaining the condition of the bottom of the berth, and taking precautions, as advised. Yet on this, as on other branches of the case, the evidence was conflicting; and we cannot say that the finding of the court of appeals that the evidence failed to establish 'that there was want of due care on the part of the master, and a failure to exercise proper supervision for the safety of the vessel, while she was moored at the wharf for the purpose of being loaded,' was clearly erroneous. The master came to the berth on appellants' business, and there was evidence to the effect that the broker, with whom the engagement was made, and appellants' foreman, were both informed that the vessel would draw, when loaded, from 14 to 14 1/2 feet, and that the master was assured by both that there was plenty of water, that the berth had been dredged out to between 14 and 15 feet, and that there was 14 feet, 'sure, at low water.' The evidence also tended to show that the foreman suggested on Friday to the master to make some soundings for himself,-that there might have been something dropped over from a lighter that he did not know of; that the captain did make soundings, and found sufficient water, as the vessel then lay; that one of the appellants told the foreman 'to tell the captain of the Tobin that he had better sound around the vessel, and make sure that it was laying all right'; that the foreman 'said the vessel was laying all right, but he would tell the captain,' as he afterwards reported he had; that the captain sounded around the vessel on Saturday, [173 U.S. 430, 439] and discovered no dangerous condition; that the vessel did not commence leaking until Sunday morning; and that the master thereupon did all he could to save her. It does not appear that the master was informed that the bottom was a rock bottom, or that the fact was mentioned that the Baird had previously got on an obstruction in the berth; and there was nothing in what was said to lead the captain to suppose that there was danger, provided there was water enough around the vessel. He rather thought the vessel touched bottom on Saturday evening at low tide, but that, if so, did not in itself constitute cause for alarm. In fact, the danger was the existence of the rock in the middle of the berth under the vessel. The evidence is voluminous in respect of the extent and manner of the loading, of what passed between the parties, of the different soundings, and so on; but it is unnecessary to recapitulate it, as we are satisfied that no adequate ground exists for disturbing the result reached.
At all events, we are unable to decide that the court of appeals was not justified in holding, on the evidence, that appellants were liable for negligence and the want of reasonable care, and that the master was free from contributory negligence; and the decree must therefore be affirmed.

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