U.S. v. Steinmetz

Citation973 F.2d 212
Decision Date18 September 1992
Docket NumberNo. 91-5582,91-5582
PartiesUNITED STATES of America v. Richard STEINMETZ, Appellant.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

Peter E. Hess (argued), Wilmington, Del., David J. Bederman (argued), Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Ga., for appellant.

Stuart M. Gerson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael Chertoff, U.S. Atty., Janis G. Schulmeisters, Mark E. Schaefer (argued), U.S. Dept. of Justice, New York City, for appellee.

Paul N. Keller, Park Ridge, Ill., for amicus-appellants American Sport Divers Assn., Federation of Metal Detector & Archeological Clubs, Alliance for Maritime Heritage Conservation, International Scuba Ass'n, Eastern Dive Boat Ass'n, and North-South Trader Civil War Magazine.

David A. Doheny, Gen. Counsel, Thompson M. Mayes, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Elizabeth S. Merritt, Paul W. Edmondson, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, D.C., for amicus-appellees National Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S., Society of Professional Archeologists, Society for Historical Archaeology, Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, Society for American Archaeology and Council of American Maritime Museums.

Before: SLOVITER, Chief Judge, SCIRICA and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SLOVITER, Chief Judge.

The circumstances out of which this appeal arises are more suited to an epic poem than a legal opinion. They include a marauding vessel of the Confederacy, a Union man-of-war secretly outfitted with iron chain mail covering its hull concealed by planking, a maritime duel challenged and accepted, combat between the vessels in international waters off the coasts of England and France, the white flag of surrender, the sinking of the Confederate ship to its watery grave, the escape of its captain, the recovery of its bell by a British diver 72 years later, and the bell's odyssey 1 spanning from a local pub, through World War II bombing and a succession of antique dealers, to its temporary docking on the floor of a federal courtroom in New Jersey, and its current display at the Naval Historical Center at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard.

We will never know all of the historical facts of the naval battle. The eyewitnesses are no longer alive, and we are left with the possibility that their written accounts are skewed by unspent passions. However tempting the incursion into the detours of unanswered historical questions, we are convened for another purpose. The legal issue presented is whether the bell from the C.S.S. ALABAMA, a Confederate commerce raider sunk by the Union Navy off the coast of Cherbourg, France in 1864, is the property of the United States, either by right of succession or by right of capture. Appellant Richard Steinmetz bought the bell in England in 1979 and brought it back to the United States. When he put it up for auction in 1990, the United States Navy claimed that the bell was its property. The district court agreed with the Navy and Steinmetz appeals.

I. Facts 2

In 1861, Captain James D. Bulloch, an agent of the Confederate Navy, went to Liverpool, England to contract for warships. His task was complicated by Britain's neutrality, proclaimed by Queen Victoria in May 1861, and its Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819, which forbade the construction and arming of warships in British territory for a belligerent power. The British circumvented these requirements by allowing private parties to build ships but not arm them. For example, despite the efforts of Thomas S. Dudley, the United States Consul in Liverpool, the Confederate cruiser FLORIDA departed from Liverpool in March of 1862 only to be armed later with weapons shipped out separately.

In July 1862, the steamship ALABAMA, despite similar attempts to detain her, also departed from Liverpool and proceeded to the Azores, where she picked up guns and ammunition. In August 1862, she was put into commission as a Confederate cruiser by Captain Raphael Semmes, a native of the state of Alabama and a former officer in the United States Navy who had resigned to join the Confederate Navy soon after Alabama seceded from the Union. Semmes and the ALABAMA roamed the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf Coast, the African Cape, and the China Sea for two years destroying or capturing at least 62 American merchant and whaling ships. According to one source, the work of the Confederate cruisers and privateers, in addition to their effect on individual ships, raised insurance rates, caused hundreds of American vessels to fly under the British flag to avoid capture, and generally "gave the American merchant marine a setback from which it did not recover till the time of the first World War." J.G. Randall & David Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction 451 (2d ed. 1969).

In June 1864, while the ALABAMA was docked in Cherbourg, France for repairs Captain Semmes learned that the U.S.S. KEARSARGE, a Union ship under the command of Captain John Winslow, 3 was positioned in international waters outside the harbor of Cherbourg. On June 19, 1864, the ALABAMA went to sea to meet the KEARSARGE, accompanied by the DEERHOUND, an English yacht out on a leisure cruise, and under the gaze of crowds of people who came from as far as Paris and lined the harbor to watch the battle. 4 After a little over an hour, the ALABAMA, having been badly hit and sinking fast, struck its colors and ran up a white flag. Semmes sent an officer in a boat to the KEARSARGE to request assistance saving the men from their sinking ship. After boats of wounded were sent to the KEARSARGE, Captain Semmes and the rest of the surviving crew jumped overboard just before the ALABAMA sank. Some of the crew were picked up by the KEARSARGE and taken as prisoners, but many crewmen died. Captain Semmes along with the remainder of his officers and crew were picked up by the DEERHOUND and taken to England, where they were set free.

The exploits of the ALABAMA and other Confederate raiders were the subject of an international dispute between the United States and England which became known as the "Alabama Claims." After the war, the United States sought indemnity from England for the havoc wreaked upon its interests by the Confederate warships that were built, outfitted, and generally assisted by the English. These claims were settled by an international arbitration tribunal, convened pursuant to the Treaty of Washington of 1871, that met in Geneva and awarded $15.5 million to be paid by Great Britain to the United States. See Randall & Donald, The Civil War and Reconstruction 671-77.

In 1936, William Lawson, a British diver from the Isle of Guernsey, retrieved the brass bell from the ALABAMA, inscribed with the letters "C.S.S. Alabama," 5 and sold it to a local bar, apparently for drinking privileges. App. at 88. That bar was destroyed by British bombing during World War II, Guernsey having fallen into German hands. The bell was dug out of the rubble after the war and exchanged hands until it wound up with an antique dealer in Hastings, England. In 1979, appellant Steinmetz, a New Jersey resident and an antique dealer for 40 years, heard about the bell while at an antique gun show in London. Steinmetz flew to Guernsey, spent a week and a half researching its authenticity, and then purchased the bell by trading approximately $12,000 worth of antique guns and pistols.

Steinmetz took the bell back to his home in Westwood, New Jersey. Within a week after his arrival back in the United States, he offered to sell or trade the bell to the United States Naval Academy. The Academy apparently wanted to display the bell but would not purchase it, so Steinmetz put it on his shelf for 11 years.

In December 1990, Steinmetz put the bell up for auction with the Harmer Rooke Galleries in New York. After the Naval Historical Center learned of the auction, the United States claimed that the bell was its property, and filed a complaint in admiralty in the United States District Court in New Jersey and a motion to show cause why Steinmetz should not deliver the bell to the United States. In response, Steinmetz delivered the bell to the district court, and filed an answer and counterclaim for a determination that the bell was his property, for payment of full market value for the bell or, in the alternative, compensation under the theories of quantum meruit and/or unjust enrichment on the part of the United States. After a hearing 6 in the district court on the motion to show cause, both parties moved for summary judgment.

The district court granted the United States' motion for summary judgment, finding in the government's favor on both theories put forth by it. United States v. Steinmetz, 763 F.Supp. 1293 (D.N.J.1991). The court found that the ALABAMA had been captured by the KEARSARGE and therefore became United States property at the time of the battle in 1864. Id. at 1298. In the alternative, the court found that because the United States succeeded to the public property of the Confederacy after the Civil War, the ALABAMA became the property of the United States when the war was over. Id.

The court also found that by virtue of Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution and statutory law, the United States did not abandon the ship because no congressionally authorized person formally abandoned the wreck of the ALABAMA. Id. at 1299. Finally the district court found that it lacked jurisdiction to hear Steinmetz's counterclaims seeking compensation for the bell on the theories of quantum meruit and unjust enrichment because the United States had not affirmatively waived its immunity to such claims. Id. at 1300. Steinmetz does not appeal the counterclaim issue, since he does not assert it in his brief. See Fed.R.App.P. 28(a). 7

Although the district court granted summary judgment, a procedure that does not contemplate oral testimony, the court based its...

To continue reading

Request your trial
9 cases
  • Odyssey Marine v. Unidentified, Shipwrecked Vessel
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida
    • December 22, 2009
    ...their remains are "clothed with sovereign immunity and therefore entitled to a presumption against abandonment of title"), aff'd, 973 F.2d 212 (3d Cir.1992). d. other FSIA arguments Unable to penetrate § 1609's exceptions, Odyssey seeks refuge in another FSIA provision, § 1605, which deals ......
  • Langbord v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)
    • August 1, 2016
    ...conduct cause the Government to lose its valuable rights by their acquiescence, laches, or failure to act.”); United States v. Steinmetz , 973 F.2d 212, 222–23 (3d Cir. 1992).For these reasons, the District Court did not err in allowing the Government to seek a declaratory judgment that the......
  • High Country Citizens' Alliance v. Norton
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Colorado
    • September 11, 2006
    ...and those persons authorized by Congress may dispose of United States property pursuant to appropriate regulations"), aff'd 973 F.2d 212 (3d Cir. 1992). It is of no consequence that the exact quantity of water the water court will award is unknown because it is evident that the federal Defe......
  • Fairport Intern. Exploration, Inc. v. Shipwrecked Vessel, Captain Lawrence
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
    • June 23, 1999
    ...as to the application of the express abandonment test to vessels initially owned by the United States. See, e.g., United States v. Steinmetz, 973 F.2d 212, 222-23 (3d Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 984, 113 S.Ct. 1578, 123 L.Ed.2d 146 (1993); cf. United States v. Pennsylvania & Lake Erie......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT