THE SEEANDBEE
| Decision Date | 17 March 1939 |
| Docket Number | No. 7712.,7712. |
| Parties | THE SEEANDBEE. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
James M. McSweeney and W. K. Gardner, both of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellant.
Russell V. Bleecker and Theo. C. Robinson, both of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellee.
Before HICKS, ALLEN, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a decree in favor of respondent-appellee in a suit in admiralty instituted against it to recover damages on account of personal injuries. The steamer was a merchant vessel of more than twenty tons burden, engaged in commerce and navigation upon the Great Lakes. Libellant was employed on it as a water tender and while so engaged in the boiler room slipped and fell against a moving part of the air pump and his right hand was caught and severely mangled by reason of which injuries it became necessary to remove the index and middle fingers and part of the palm of his right hand.
He alleged that his injuries were caused from the unseaworthiness of the vessel in two particulars, (1) the floor in the boiler room on which the air pumps rested was defective and yielded under his weight and by reason of oil and grease thereon precipitated him against the air pump; (2) there were no guards, rails, barriers or other safety devices around the air pump and that it was located in close proximity to a narrow and dangerous passageway which libellant was required to use in the performance of his duty.
The Seeandbee was built in 1913 and libellant, who had been a seaman since 1903, had worked on it for twenty years. At the time of his injuries his duties were to keep water in the boiler, take care of the water pumps, operate the ash pan, pump the ashes out for the coal passers and assist the engineer when needed.
The Seeandbee had three pumps located in the pump or fan room on the lower deck with the boiler room just below the main engine room on the starboard side. The pump on which libellant was injured was a Knowles vacuum pump used to remove steam from the main turbines of the engine and pump the condensation over the side. It contained rapidly moving pistons, rods, parts and attachments. Immediately opposite this air pump was an inclosed fan with a guard rail entirely around it with a passageway of forty inches between and in the course of libellant's duty as water tender, he walked through this passageway.
The pump had a hydrostat lubricator on it and the oil was pumped in by working a plunger. The oil was put into the oil container by taking the plug off the top of the lubricator, shutting off the steam valves and pouring it in from a can. Underneath the piston rod there was a trough to catch the condensation from the steam end and the water from the water end and underneath this, there was a pan fastened directly to the floor plates about eighteen inches wide, three and a half feet long and about an inch and a half in depth and the water and oil from the first trough passed into the lower pan from a hole in the bottom of the top trough, which at times became clogged. The piston rod in the pump worked forward and backward full stroke with a tappet arm that tripped the valve to emit the steam. The packing of the pump frequently became loose which would cause the piston to take a half stroke until it was again tightened. The injectors were in the back of the pump and in order to start them it was necessary to go through the passageway between the fan and pump.
Libellant testified that on July 30, 1935, at 3:30 A. M., while on duty as a water tender, he went to the starboard side of the pump where he noticed that the pan on the floor underneath the pump was full of water and oil and that the oil drain underneath the pump was stopped up and the trough filled and he put his hand in and undertook to open it but the drain pipe was clogged with dirt which he could not clear by pushing his finger up through it. He said when it stopped up in that manner the oil and water would seep onto the floor and that on this particular day there was oil and water in the passageway between the fan and pumps; that after he failed to remedy the stoppage he started around to the port side of the pump through the narrow passage between the fan and the pump on his way to the boiler room, the floor seemed to give a little, he lost his balance and, fell against the pump, caught his right hand in the moving parts and it was crushed and mangled.
No one saw the accident and libellant was the only witness who testified to the circumstances under which the injury occurred. George Turnbull, chief engineer, at the time of the accident and at the time of the trial, testified that libellant told him he was on the starboard side stooping down "cleaning out the hole underneath the pump; that the ship gave a jerk and he slipped with his hand out and his other hand underneath the pump." Libellant denied he told Turnbull he was injured while attempting to unstop the drain pipe. This witness, on cross-examination, said that Arriaga told him "before he was injured" he was trying to loosen up the drain hold but at the time of the accident was on the port side. Turnbull also testified that immediately after the accident the floor around the pump was wet and that it was usually wet. He further testified that it was not the duty of the water tenders to adjust the pumps but they should notify the boiler room engineer of any defects.
John Dwyer, the boiler room engineer, who had charge of the pumps, testified that it was part of the duty of the water tenders to oil the pumps and when any adjustments were to be made he or the engineer on watch should be notified but they sometimes adjusted the pumps when trouble arose and that he knew they did and permitted them to do so. Several of the witnesses testified that after the accident, as soon as the steamer reached Cleveland, a guard rail was placed on the port side of the pump.
On the foregoing facts the lower court found there was no substantial evidence showing unseaworthiness of the vessel on account of defective floor plates yielding under pressure or because of the presence of oil, water or grease on the floor at the pump. It found there was unseaworthiness because of the absence of guard rails or barriers around the pump on the port side which was located adjacent to a narrow passageway between the fan and the pump. It further found that employees in the course of their duties in using the...
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