Treworgy v. Richards

• Decision Date: 26 January 1926
• Docket Number: No. 1933.,1933.
• Citation: 10 F.2d 152
• Parties: TREWORGY et al. v. RICHARDS et al. THE NARMADA. THE DUCHESS. THE KALMIA.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

10 F.2d 152 (1926)

TREWORGY et al. v. RICHARDS et al. THE NARMADA THE DUCHESS THE KALMIA.

No. 1933.

Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

January 26, 1926.

William H. Gulliver, of Portland, Me. (Daniel E. Hurley, of Ellsworth, Me., and William B. Mahoney, of Portland, Me., on the brief), for appellants.

Robert Hale, of Portland, Me. (Verrill, Hale, Booth & Ives, of Portland, Me., on the brief), for appellees.

Before BINGHAM and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and BREWSTER, District Judge.

PER CURIAM.

In this admiralty appeal, the only question calling for serious consideration is as to whether the award of the court below for salvage was adequate. The facts material for determination of that issue are within narrow limits.

On May 2, 1923, the waters of Union river, which run through Ellsworth, Me., down into Union Bay, had been raised to an unprecedentedly high pitch by rains and by a break in a large dam, which released a heavy body of impounded water. In winter storage, under a large frame building, 170 feet long and 68 feet wide, were three yachts, the Kalmia, the Duchess, and the Narmada, together with a tugboat and another sloop yacht. When the flood came down, about 11:30 at night, this building was caught by the current and carried, with all these five vessels, as one mass, down into the bay. The river was then full of logs, stave wood, and debris, and its velocity was variously estimated at from 15 to 20 miles an hour.

The libelants forthwith started after the floating wreckage in small boats, using, for lack of oars, pieces of boards hastily seized for the occasion. They succeeded in overtaking the boathouse, secured and let down anchors from some of the yachts, let the anchors drag for perhaps a mile, until within about 100 feet of Tupper's Ledge some three or four miles down the stream, when the anchors held on the rocks. Then for three days and nights, under conditions of considerable danger, the libelants were occupied in securing the yachts, pumping or bailing out those that were leaking, and getting them free from the shed, until it was practicable to take the yachts to Surry Bay, a few miles away. Thereafter for some 20 days they rendered further services, but not of a dangerous kind.

The real rescue work, promptly and efficiently done, and involving substantial danger to the libelants, was on the night of May 2, in overtaking and anchoring the shed and its contents, and for three days thereafter in keeping the yachts...