Opinion ID: 390863
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Unseaworthiness of Barge W-102

Text: 8 The district court found that Barge W-102 was unseaworthy because it was missing bitts and cleats necessary to tie up and to tow the barge. 4 The existence, number, and condition of the bitts and cleats on the river side of the barge were important issues in the case. At least ten people were asked in their depositions about the bitts and cleats on Barge W-102. A review of these depositions shows at least two things: no one could remember how many bitts and cleats were on the barge on the date of the accident, and only Killian Huger, the president of Central Marine, knew how many bitts and cleats were supposed to be on the barge. The district judge cut the Gordian knot by giving credence to the deposition testimony of the crane operator, who stated that he could remember only one bitt standing on February 4, 1974. 9 However, among the hundreds of pages of depositions and documents in the record, there are four exhibits which convince us that the crane operator's memory was incorrect and that the district court's finding was erroneous. Exhibit Eustis 8 is a copy of the blueprints for a barge similar to Barge W-102. They show that the barge is designed to have a double bitt at each corner and two cleats on each side, or a total of twelve cleats and bitts. On the blueprints are these words: BUILT IN ACCORDANCE WITH AMERICAN-BUREAU-OF-SHIPPING SPECIFICATIONS FOR CLASSIFICATION k A1 BARGE RIVERS, BAYS & SOUNDS. In addition, three different photographers took pictures of the scene within twenty-four hours of the accident. Lawrence Stepteaux, employed by Avondale, arrived very soon after the accident. 5 His seven photographs, marked in globo Exhibit 5, clearly show the double bitt and the cleat at the downstream end on the river side of the barge. Indeed, the DELTA DAWN is shown to be tied up at the downstream cleat in Stepteaux's photograph. Another of Stepteaux's photographs shows somewhat less clearly the upstream cleat and bitt. Richmond Eustis, the original attorney for East-West, visited Barge W-102 the night of February 4 and took seven photographs. Eustis 7 shows a double bitt, one side of which has a mooring line wrapped around it extending to a vessel. Eustis 2 shows another mooring line running from a vessel to a cleat on the barge. Eustis testified that $ 7 was the downstream double bitt and $ 2 was the upstream cleat. Finally, Francis Richard, employed by Central Marine, took nineteen pictures of the area on February 5, marked in the record as in globo Exhibit 6. These photographs clearly show both double bitts and both cleats on the river side of Barge W-102. Another barge is tied up to the downstream double bitt, and a man appears to be preparing to tie the DELTA DAWN to the upstream cleat. 10 Thus, although the deposition testimony must be considered, what is so clearly shown by the three sets of photographs taken within twenty-four hours of the accident must prevail over the witnesses' admittedly unclear memory. The photographs prove that Barge W-102 had its full complement of bitts and cleats on the river side, and thus the premise upon which the district court based its finding of unseaworthiness was clearly erroneous. 11
12 In its brief, East-West acknowledges the frailty of the unseaworthiness argument based on Barge W-102's missing bitts or cleats and instead suggests that the barge was unseaworthy because Avondale had failed to provide an additional bitt or cleat amidships. The captain of the DELTA DAWN had a preference for hip-towing the barge, or towing it sideways, and to do so he needed to tie up in the middle of the barge. East-West argues that failure to add a cleat or bitt to accommodate the captain made the barge unseaworthy. 13 A vessel is unseaworthy if it and its appurtenances are not reasonably fit for their intended use. The standard is not perfection but reasonable fitness; not a ship that will weather every conceivable storm but a vessel reasonably suited for her intended service. Boudoin v. Lykes Bros. S. S. Co., 348 U.S. 336, (339), 75 S.Ct. 382, (385), 99 L.Ed. 354 ((1955)). Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc., 362 U.S. 539, 550, 80 S.Ct. 926, 933, 4 L.Ed.2d 941 (1960). At the time of the accident, the DELTA DAWN was merely standing by, awaiting instructions to tow the barge. As the photographs put into evidence demonstrate, the bitts and cleats on the barge were eminently fit as places to tie up. As for providing a reasonably fit place for a tug to attach a line for a hip-tow, we emphasize that a vessel does not have to have bitts and cleats to accommodate every conceivable towing method in order to be seaworthy. The DELTA DAWN had successfully moved Barge W-102 using other towing methods and had perfected hip tows by attaching the line to the obviously more substantial crane leg. The barge's bitt and cleat placement conformed to its blueprints. Under these circumstances, it was error to hold that the barge was unseaworthy.