PUGET SOUND TUG & BARGE COMPANY v. United States, Civ. No. 7704.

• Decision Date: 20 May 1969
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 7704.
• Citation: 1969 AMC 1962,305 F. Supp. 570
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington
• Parties: PUGET SOUND TUG & BARGE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, as Owner of the SS LINDENWOOD VICTORY, Official No. 248278, Defendant.

305 F. Supp. 570

1969 AMC 1962

PUGET SOUND TUG & BARGE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, as Owner of the SS LINDENWOOD VICTORY, Official No. 248278, Defendant.

Civ. No. 7704.

United States District Court W. D. Washington, N. D.

May 20, 1969.

Martin P. Detels, Jr., of Detels, Draper & Marinkovich, Seattle, Wash., for plaintiff.

Eugene G. Cushing, U. S. Atty., Luzerne E. Hufford, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Seattle, Wash.; John F. Meadows, Attorney in Charge, Admiralty & Shipping Section, Frederick F. Burgess, Jr., Atty., Admiralty and Shipping Section, U. S. Dept. of Justice, San Francisco, Cal., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

BEEKS, District Judge.

This case involves a collision between a tug, the THOR, and the vessel it was assisting, the LINDENWOOD VICTORY. Plaintiff, bareboat charterer of the THOR, brought suit to recover the cost of raising and repairing its tug; as subrogee of the loss sustained by an independent compass adjuster who was on the tug at the time of the casualty which was paid by plaintiff; and for damages for detention. Defendant, owner of the towed vessel, counterclaimed for damages sustained by its vessel. The facts of the case, which are largely undisputed, are as follows:

Plaintiff was requested to provide the services of a tug to assist the LINDENWOOD VICTORY from the inner berth at Pier 91, West, to Pier 90, Berth 6, in Seattle. Plaintiff dispatched its tug RETRIEVER. Upon reporting alongside the LINDENWOOD VICTORY the RETRIEVER was requested by the pilot of the LINDENWOOD VICTORY to radio plaintiff for a second tug. Enter THOR. The pilot of the LINDENWOOD VICTORY directed the RETRIEVER to make up on the port bow, and the THOR to make up a single towline on the stern. The lines of the two tugs were passed aboard the LINDENWOOD VICTORY and made fast by the ship's crew, the THOR's line being placed over a bollard on the port stern of the tow. No explicit mention of whether the engine of the LINDENWOOD VICTORY would be used in the maneuver was made by personnel of any of the three vessels.

The LINDENWOOD VICTORY was unberthed without event, and successfully maneuvered past the vessels moored astern at the outer berths of Pier 91 to a position where its stem was some distance southerly of the south faces of Piers 90 and 91. During this period, and until the casualty, the only engine order signal given by the LINDENWOOD VICTORY to the THOR was for the THOR to tow astern.

When she cleared the outer end of Pier 91 the LINDENWOOD VICTORY's engine was ordered slow astern. Some four minutes thereafter, at approximately 1423, the engine was ordered half astern. No signals were given to the tugs that the engine was being used. The THOR's own "prop wash" prevented her crew from realizing that the LINDENWOOD VICTORY's engine was being used. At about the same time the engine was ordered half astern the RETRIEVER was directed to shift from the port bow to the starboard bow to straighten the LINDENWOOD VICTORY for entry to Pier 90, and she began to do so.

At this time the THOR was pulling dead astern on a short towline of some sixty to seventy feet. At about 1424, having seen the RETRIEVER's changed position, the THOR changed course toward the southwest quadrant, to port of the axis of travel of the LINDENWOOD VICTORY, to assist in straightening her for entry to Pier 90. The THOR's maneuver was entirely proper in the circumstances, but it did not alter the LINDENWOOD VICTORY's axis of travel because her engine was being used, and she began to overrun the THOR. Realizing that the THOR was in difficulty, the pilot of the LINDENWOOD VICTORY ordered the engine stopped at approximately 1424. At...