Homer Ramsdell Transportation Company v. La Compagnie Generale Transatlantique

• Decision Date: 27 May 1901
• Docket Number: No. 166,166
• Parties: HOMER RAMSDELL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. LA COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

182 U.S. 406

21 S.Ct. 831

45 L.Ed. 1155

HOMER RAMSDELL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v LA COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE.

No. 166.

Argued March 6, 1901.

Decided May 27, 1901.

This was an action at law, brought by the Homer Ramsdell Transportation Company, a corporation of New York, against the Compagnie G en erale Transatlantique, a corporation of the Republic of France, to recover damages caused by the defendant's steamship, the Bretagne, striking and injuring the plaintiff's pier in New York harbor.

The answer alleged, among other things, 'that at the time of the said collision the said steamship La Breatagne was in the command, and her movements and navigation entirely under the orders and direction, of a pilot duly licensed under, and compulsorily imposed upon the defendant by, the authority of the state of New York; and that the regular officers and crew of the said steamship in the service of the defendant had no part in the navigation of the said steamer except to carry out or execute the orders of the said pilot, which they did promptly and efficiently in every particular.'

The case was referred by the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of New York to Hon. William G. Choate, who reported in favor of the defendant, and filed an opinion published in 63 Fed. 848. That court gave judgment on his report for the defendant; and the plaintiff appealed to the circuit court of appeals for the second circuit, which certified to this court, together with the pleadings, the judgment of the circuit, court, and the report and opinion of the referee, the following statement of facts and questions of law:

'The defendant in error is a foreign corporation owning and plying a regular line of steamers between Havre and New York. On the morning of December 10, 1892, one of the defendant's steamers, La Bretagna, while outward bound from the port of New York to Havre by way of Sandy Hook, with cargo and passengers, struck the plaintiff's pier, damaging it to the amount of upwards of $13,000. The said vessel, at the time she left her pier, was in all respects seaworthy and properly manned, equipped, and supplied, and her owner exercised due diligence to make her so. She had on board a Sandy Hook pilot, duly licensed under and pursuant to the laws of the state of New York, and was navigated under his direction up to the time of said collision, and all his orders were promptly and efficiently obeyed and carried out by the master, officers, and crew of said steamship. The said collision and the damage resulting therefrom were caused solely by the negligence and want of skill and care on the part of the said pilot, and not by any want of skill or negligence on the part of the master, other officers, or crew of the said steamship.

'Certain questions of law arise in the cause concerning which the court desires the instructions of the Supreme Court for its proper decision, and which are as follows:

'First. Whether the provisions of chapter 467 of the Laws of New York passed June 28, 1853, as amended by chapter 196 of the Laws of said state passed April 11, 1854; chapter 243 of the Laws of the said state passed April 3, 1857; chapter 930 of the Laws of the said state passed May 16, 1867, and chapter 548 of the Laws of said state passed May 2, 1870, and consolidated into §§ 2093 to 2133, inclusive, of chapter 410 of the Laws of said state passed July 1, 1882, impose compulsory pilotage on foreign vessels inward and outward bound to and from the port of New York by way of Sandy Hook, in view of the decisions of the New York court of appeals.

'Second. Whether in an action at common law the shipowner is liable for injuries inflicted exclusively by negligence of a pilot accepted by a vessel compulsorily.'

Mr. Wm. H. Harris for plaintiff in error.

Mr. E. K. Jones for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Gray, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court:

The question whether the statutes of the state of New York impose compulsory pilotage on foreign vessels inward and outward bound to and from the port of New York by way of Sandy Hook depends, as both counsel admit, upon the true construction of the provisions which are copied in the margin.

The staute of 1857, chap 243, re-enacted in the statute of 1882, chap. 410, § 2119, after providing how the master of a vessel sailing under a costing license to or from the port of New York by the way of Sandy Hook, 'desirous of piloting his own vessel,' may obtain a license for such purpose from the commissioners of pilots, provides that every master of a foreign vessel bound to or from the port of New York by the way of Sandy Hook 'shall take a licensed pilot, or, in case of refusal to take such pilot, shall himself, owners or consignees, pay the said pilotage, as if one had been employed, and such pilotage shall be paid to the pilot first speaking or offering his services as pilot to such vessel.' It then goes on to provide that 'any person not holding a license as pilot under this act' or under the laws of New Jersey, who shall pilot any vessel to or from the port of New York by the way of Sandy Hook, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, and that 'all persons employing a person to act as pilot, and not holding a license under this act' or under the laws of New Jersey, shall pay a fine.

By these provisions, not only is the master of a foreign vessel required to take a licensed pilot, or, in case of refusal to take such pilot, required to pay pilotage to the pilot first offering his services; but the subsequent provision as to any 'person not holding a license under this act,' construed in connection with the previous provision as to licensing the master of a coasting vessel as its pilot, evidently includes the master of a foreign vessel, and subjects him to fine or imprisonment if he pilots his own vessel.

The requirement to take a licensed pilot or pay pilotage, together with the penalty imposed on a master who pilots his own foreign vessel, clearly imposes compulsory pilotage. And it was held by this court in The China (1868) 7 Wall. 53, sub nom. The China v. Walsh, 19 L. ed. 67, that the statute of 1857 imposed such pilotage.

The statute of 1867, chap. 930, re-enacted in the statute of 1882, chap. 410, § 2100, enacts that a pilot bringing in a vessel from sea may by himself or one of his boat's company pilot her to sea when she next leaves the port; provided that if the owner shall desire to change the pilot, the commissioners of pilots may assign another one of the same pilot boat. But the right of the owner to object to one pilot does not make the selection of another by the commissioners a voluntary act of his.

The cases in the New York court of appeals, cited by the plaintiff, do not affect this question. In Brown v. Elwell (1875) 60 N. Y. 249, the only point decided was that a pilot licensed by the law of New Jersey could not recover pilotage under the statute of New York. And in Gillespie v. Zittlosen (1875) 60 N. Y. 449, the only point decided was that the pilot first offering his services could not recover pilotage if the master took another licensed pilot.

The answer to the first question certified must therefore be that the statutes of New York do impose compulsory pilotage on foreign vessels inward and out ward bound to and from the port of New York by the way of Sandy Hook.

This action is at common law. It is not, and, being for damages inflicted on land, could not be, in admiralty. The Plymouth (1865) 3 Wall. 20, sub nom. Hough v. Western Transp. Co. 18 L. ed. 125.

At common law, no action can be maintained against the owner of a vessel for the fault of a compulsory pilot.

In Carruthers v. Sydebotham (1815) 4 Maule & S. 77, 85, Lord Ellenborough, in holding that the act of the pilot was not the act of the master or mariners or owner of the ship, said: 'Now to make the pilot the representative of the master, and consequently to exempt the underwriter from liability for his acts, it must first be shown that there is a privity between the pilot and the master, so that the one may be considered as the representative or agent of the other. But does the master appoint the pilot? Certainly not. The regulations of the general pilot act impose a penalty upon the master of every ship which shall be piloted by any other person than a pilot duly licensed, within any limits for which pilots are lawfully appointed. And there is an exception of such places for which pilots are not appointed. But if the master cannot navigate without a pilot except under a penalty, is he not under the compulsion of law to take a pilot? And if so, is it just that he should be answerable for the misconduct of a person whose appointment the provisions of the law have taken out of his hands, placing the ship in the hands and under the conduct of the pilot? The consequence is that there is no privity between them.'

In Atty. Gen. v. Case (1816) 3 Price, 302, 322, in the court of exchequer, the master of the vessel whose owners were held liable, as the court said, 'was not compellable, at that time, in any way, either under the penalty of double the wages or of paying even the single wages, to have any pilot on board. It was his own act to have him; and it can be only in the case of such an officer having been forced upon them, and without his own election, that the responsibility of the owner can possibly be discharged.'

In The Maria (1839) 1 W. Rob. 95, 106, Dr. Lushington, on a full review of those cases, held that upon general principles, and independently of the express provisions in the English statutes, the compulsory taking of a pilot relieved the owner from all responsibility for his acts.

In Lucey v. Ingram (1840) 6 Mees. & W. 302, 315, Baron Parke, delivering the judgment of the court of exchequer, spoke of the exemption of the master who was compelled to take a pilot, from liability by the common law, independent of statute,...