Opinion ID: 390863
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Provide an Additional Bitt or Cleat

Text: 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.