Opinion ID: 456170
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Anchor Watch

Text: 52 The district court found that as a matter of practice for the past 15 years, upon entering and leaving port, Captain Liu failed to insure that the anchors were ready for use so that both anchors could be let go if necessary. The court found this practice violated company regulations and was contrary to sound navigational practice and good seamanship. The district court further found that although Pilot Lerro requested that both anchors on the SUMMIT VENTURE be readied and that three men were required to drop both anchors simultaneously, only two men were on the bow and thus when the order was given only one anchor was dropped. The court found this to be evidence of unseaworthiness. 53 While the facts found by the district court constitute negligence and unseaworthiness, we find that these facts had no causative relation to the SUMMIT VENTURE's allision with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Because of the speed of the vessel and the late dropping of the anchor, it still had not caught hold at the point of allision. The testimony further indicated that given the speed of the ship, the dropping of both anchors would have had no appreciable effect because had they caught hold, the chains would have been ripped from the vessel because of its speed. (TL 571-572) 9 Consequently, we find the district court's holding that the negligence surrounding the anchor watch and anchors was a contributory cause to the accident to be clearly erroneous. 54