The Severn

Decision Date21 January 1902
Citation113 F. 578
PartiesTHE SEVERN.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Bickford & Stuart, for the Pendleton.

George Whitelock, E. I. Koontz, and Hughes & Little, for the Severn.

This is a libel filed by Lewis Luckenbach, owner of the barge Frank Pendleton, against the steam bark Severn, and a cross-libel filed by the owners of the Severn against the Frank Pendleton, to recover damages arising from a collision which occurred on the night of the 16th of August, 1900, between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m., near the mouth of James river, about abreast of Newport News; said barge and bark being respectively, at anchor in the anchorage grounds prescribed by the harbor master of Newport News for loaded vessels. The barge Frank Pendleton was an oceangoing barge of a burden of about 1,300 tons gross, and the steam bark Severn was a British steam bark of a burden of about 2,000 tons. While so lying at anchor, a collision occurred in a storm by reason of the bark dragging its anchor and colliding with the barge.

WADDILL District Judge (after stating the facts).

The faults assigned by the Pendleton are that the Severn was wrongfully anchored within the space allotted for loaded shipping, it being at the time light; that it had out only one anchor,-- its port anchor,-- when both should have been out, and that at least its starboard anchor should have been kept in position to be immediately released in case of emergency or storm arising that the Severn's yards should have been trimmed fore and aft, instead of athwart-ship, as they here; and that the bark was not supplied with a sufficient crew. The defense of the Severn is that the collision was inevitable, arising from a sudden and violent hurricane, that could not reasonably have been foreseen, and that the velocity of the wind was such that it was impossible to have avoided what occurred, and that the Pendleton was negligently anchored in too close proximity to it.

Considerable evidence was taken by the parties, respectively, including that of the master and crew of the Pendleton, though only the first mate of the Severn was examined; the bark, with its entire officers and crew, on the next voyage after the collision, having been lost at sea, with the exception of the mate, who had left the ship by reason of sickness. One of the questions much discussed was whether or not certain statements made by the master of the Severn the day after the collision, as to how the same occurred, was admissible in evidence against the ship. Objection was made to the admissibility of this evidence upon the examination of witnesses orally before the court, and the same was received subject to exception. The same admissions, however, had been previously received during the taking of depositions without exception. The objection should have been then made and insisted upon; but, in any event, it seems quite clear that such admissions from the master of the ship are received against the owner in proceedings in admiralty. The Enterprise, 2 Curt. 320, Fed. Cas. No, 4,497; The...

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  • THE KAGA MARU
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington
    • March 31, 1927
    ... ... See The Potomac, 8 Wall. 590, 19 L. Ed. 511; The Lisbonese (C. C. A.) 53 F. 293; The Wilhelm (C. C. A.) 59 F. 169; The Severn (D. C.) 113 F. 578. No collision could have occurred if the testimony of both sides is true, nor if the Kaga Maru was going at the speed contended for ...         The collision occurred in the fairway. It is a place much frequented by watercraft at all times, and requires exercise of ... ...
  • The Margaret J. Sanford
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
    • January 31, 1913
    ... ... occurred, caused the ship to move to a proper and safe place ... Assuming ... that the Strathleven had the right to anchor where she did, ... she should have seen that her anchor did not drag, and, if ... necessary, put out an additional anchor or anchors (The ... Severn (D.C.) 113 F. 578; The Director (D.C.) 180 F. 606), ... and in no event should she have continued, in disregard of ... the rights of others, to pay out her chain in the presence of ... other shipping, until she virtually monopolized the channel ... She had no right to assume that, upon her ... ...
  • THE W. TALBOT DODGE
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • January 12, 1926
    ... ... The Potomac, 75 U. S. (8 Wall.) 590, 19 L. Ed. 511; The Enterprise, 2 Curt. 329, Fed. Cas. No. 4,497; The Lisbonense, 53 F. 293, 3 C. C. A. 539; The S. S. Wilhelm, 59 F. 169, 8 C. C. A. 72; The Fanwood (D. C.) 61 F. 523; The Severn (D. C.) 113 F. 578; Frederick Leyland & Co. v. Hornblower, 256 F. 289, 296, 167 C. C. A. 461. The rule of these decisions is a general rule of evidence in admiralty. It arises from the peculiar relation of the master to the ship, and from the fact that admiralty courts are not bound by common-law ... ...
  • The Stimson
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
    • March 18, 1919
    ... ... question of inevitable accident, which, in order for the ... steamship to avail herself of, must herself be shown to be ... free from fault. Union S.S. Co. v. New York-Virginia S.S ... Co., 24 How. 307, 313, 16 L.Ed. 699; The Colorado, 91 ... U.S. 692, 763, 23 L.Ed. 379; The Severn (D.C.) 113 F. 578; ... The Maryland (D.C.) 182 F. 829, 831; The Richard F. Young ... (D.C.) 245 F. 499, 502, 503; The Reichert Towing Line ... (C.C.A.) 251 F. 214 ... The ... court thinks that the respondent has established its case of ... the breaking or giving way of the ... ...
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