Court Opinion

ID: 9467549
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:51:26.466574+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:24.222006
License: Public Domain

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the majority opinion and would reverse the judgment of the district court which enforced a claim of general average contribution in favor of the shipowner against the United States.
The Government makes two principal contentions in this case. First, the mechanical breakdown of the ATLANTIC HERITAGE in calm seas, in mid-ocean, raises a presumption that the ship was unseaworthy when it left port. ARCO produced no evidence to rebut this presumption. Second, ARCO did not, and could not, carry its burden of proving that it exercised due diligence to make the ATLANTIC HERITAGE seaworthy. In such circumstances, ARCO would be liable under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 46 U.S.C. §§ 1308(l)(a) & 1304(1), for any damage to the cargo arising from the unseaworthiness of the vessel; therefore, under the parties’ contract of carriage and addenda thereto ARCO may not recover in general average.1 I agree with the Government’s contentions.
When a vessel founders or when its machinery fails on an otherwise uneventful voyage and no circumstances such as grounding, collision, or bad weather can explain such failure, a presumption arises that the vessel was unseaworthy at the beginning of the voyage. Ionian Steamship Co. v. United Distillery, 236 F.2d 78, 80 (5th Cir. 1956).2 See South, Inc. v. Moran Tow*764ing, 360 F.2d 1002, 1005 (2d Cir. 1966); Reisman v. New Hampshire Fire Ins. Co., 312 F.2d 17, 20 (5th Cir. 1963); Societa Anonima Cantiero Olivo v. Federal Ins. Co., 62 F.2d 769, 771 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 289 U.S. 759, 53 S.Ct. 792, 77 L.Ed. 1503 (1933); Eastern Marine & Fire Ins. Co. v. S.S. COLUMBIA, 411 F.Supp. 926, 928 (S.D.N.Y.), aff’d, 551 F.2d 299 (2d Cir. 1976); Texaco, Inc. v. Universal Marine, Inc., 400 F.Supp. 311, 320 (E.D.La.1975). Such an occurrence took place here; the ATLANTIC HERITAGE lost a propeller blade in clear, calm weather, in mid-ocean, without accident or grounding.
The facts in the instant case argue more strongly for disallowing general average contribution than those presented in Societa Anonima Cantiero Olivo v. Federal Ins. Co., supra. There, the vessel’s tail shaft broke for completely unknown reasons during a gale. Judge Learned Hand affirmed the denial of general average, concluding that “the failure of so vital a part of [the ship’s] machinery in weather which it should withstand, if staunch, is all that the cargo is called upon to prove. Thereafter [the ship] must prove her general fitness, and will fail upon the issue, if the evidence is in balance.” 62 F.2d at 771.
Here, the evidence favors the Government. During a maneuver in the turning basin at Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 7-8, the Watch Engineer felt and reported a jolt which the Chief Engineer ultimately noted for emphasis in red ink in the smooth engine log in these words: “FELT JOLT PORT SIDE OF ENGINE ROOM, @ 0120.”3 After the propeller damage on March 25, marine surveyors made their reports to the ATLANTIC HERITAGE’S insurers: “During shifting a heavy bump was heard along the port side at the stern. Owners [i. e. ARCO] contend that aforenoted occurrence at Corpus Christi was primary cause of damage.” ARCO is in the anomalous position in its general average suit of denying its own contention made in its claim against its insurers.
The majority avoids this anomaly first by finding that government counsel did not adequately raise the issue of presumption of unseaworthiness before the district judge. I disagree. The opening statement, quoted by the majority, could have been clearer, but I find it sufficient to apprise the district court of the presumption of unseaworthiness upon a showing of mechanical failure in calm seas. Moreover, the district court’s failure to shift the burden to ARCO to prove seaworthiness after such a showing is an error of law. In its Proposed Conclusions of Law, the Government cited Judge Hand’s opinion in Cantiero Olivo. The district court’s opinion, however, made no reference to the holding in Cantiero Olivo.
Next, the majority concludes that an “uneventful” two-week interval between the start of the voyage and the accident makes it “mechanically unreasonable to assume something was wrong with the ATLANTIC HERITAGE when she left port.” Supra at 762. Again, I disagree. It is completely reasonable to assume that the jolt to the vessel during the turning maneuver at Corpus Christi, which ARCO contended was the primary cause of the ultimate damage in its claim against its insurers, cracked the blade which ultimately sheared off, and bent the other two blades. Uneventful steaming with a cracked blade and two bent blades is more reasonable than ARCO’s total failure to explain the accident. I would conclude that the shearing off of the propeller blade in calm weather created a presumption that the jolt in the turning basin damaged the blades and that the vessel was unseaworthy from the start of the voyage.
*765Since ARCO provided no alternative explanation for the accident to rebut the unseaworthiness presumption, it must show that the exercise of due diligence would not have discovered the unseaworthy condition in order to recover under the general average clause. In a footnote, the majority declines to reach this issue since they find that the ATLANTIC HERITAGE was seaworthy. Supra at 763 n.4. On the contrary, I believe that the facts establish a lack of diligence on the part of ARCO.
The captain of the ship, Captain Linton, testified that he would expect the Chief Engineer to report to him any log entries made in red. However, the Chief Engineer did not do so and, though available, was not called as a witness at trial to explain this failure.4 It is highly significant that Captain Linton further testified that if he had been aware of the log book entry, he would have ordered an immediate survey. Divers are routinely used to check a ship’s stern frame, rudder and propeller for damage. Such a task could easily have been performed in this case since the ship was only partially loaded and the propeller blade tips were only three feet below the surface. The survey could have discovered the bent blades, and may have discovered the crack. Under these circumstances, ARCO has not proved that it exercised due diligence to discover the unseaworthy condition.
Thus the judgment for ARCO was erroneously entered and should be reversed.

. ARCO and the United States incorporated the York-Antwerp Rules, 1950, a “Jason Clause,” and the provisions of COGSA into their Charter Party. The parties agree that these provisions establish ARCO’s right to recover in general average only if ARCO would not be liable to the Government under COGSA in a cargo damage case. See Orient Mid-East Lines, Inc. v. A Shipment of Rice, 496 F.2d 1032, 1041 n.17 (5th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 1005, 95 S.Ct. 1447, 43 L.Ed.2d 763 (1975).
Section 1303 of COGSA provides in pertinent part:
(1) The carrier shall be bound, before and at the beginning of the voyage, to exercise due diligence to—
(a) Make the ship seaworthy.
Section 1304(1) states:
(1) Neither the carrier nor the ship shall be liable for loss or damage arising or resulting from unseaworthiness unless caused by want of due diligence on the part of the carrier to make the ship seaworthy, and to secure that the ship is properly manned, equipped, and supplied, and to make the holds, refrigerating and cool chambers, and all other parts of the ship in which goods are carried fit and safe for their reception, carriage, and preservation in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (1) of section 1303 of this title. Whenever loss or damage has resulted from unseaworthiness, the burden of proving the exercise of due diligence shall be on the carrier or other persons claiming exemption under this section.

. The majority cites Ionian Steamship’s statement that the presumption arises when the machinery “fail[s] shortly after the beginning of the voyage,” 236 F.2d at 80, and finds that *764two weeks is not a sufficiently short period of time. To the contrary, two weeks of continual steaming, without even a plausible intervening cause, is not too long. See Eastern Marine & Fire Ins. Co. v. S.S. COLUMBIA, 411 F.Supp. 926, 928 (S.D.N.Y.), aff’d, 551 F.2d 299 (2d Cir. 1976) (rudder falling off in a monsoon two weeks after setting sail still compels conclusion that ship was unseaworthy).

. In the two months between March 3, 1973 and May 2, 1973, the jolt was the only occurrence noted in red in the smooth engine log. The only other highlighted event was the actual loss of the propeller blade on March 25, and that incident was merely noted in the usual blue ink and underlined in red.

. At oral argument, counsel for ARCO explained that he did not call the Chief Engineer as a witness because, after talking with the Engineer by telephone, he found that the Engineer’s recollection was “very vague” and that he “didn’t have anything to contribute other than what the log actually said.”