Opinion ID: 390863
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Missing Bitts and Cleats

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