Black Point SS Co. v. Reading Co.
| Decision Date | 20 March 1936 |
| Docket Number | 633.,No. 628,628 |
| Citation | 14 F. Supp. 43 |
| Parties | BLACK POINT S. S. CO. v. READING CO. READING CO. v. BLACK POINT S. S. CO. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Putnam, Bell, Dutch & Santry, of Boston, Mass., for Black Point S. S. Co.
Choate, Hall & Stewart, James Garfield, and Bailey Aldrich, all of Boston, Mass., for Reading Co.
These two libels involve the same facts and were heard together. The first seeks to recover for damage to the S. S. Black Point due to a collision between that vessel, owned by the libelant, and the barge Glenside, then owned by the libelee. The second libel by the then owner of the barge Glenside seeks recovery for damage caused to that barge as a result of the same collision.
The collision occurred in Boston Harbor in the dredged channel at or near the entrance to President Roads on the evening of September 22, 1931, at about 8:44 daylight saving time. The night was clear, with a moderate westerly breeze. The tide was flowing at about one-half knot. Some of the testimony as to times was given in terms of Daylight saving time and other testimony in terms of Eastern standard time, but, for convenience and clearness, all times mentioned in this opinion are Daylight saving time, which was in effect on the date of the collision here involved.
On the evening of September 22, 1931, the tug Valley Forge had come up the harbor with the barges Tulpehocken and Glenside in tow. She and her tow passed Deer Island Light about 8:15, going half speed, or about 3 knots. Just after passing Deer Island Light, and at about 8:20, the tug gave the order to shorten hawser, and about 8:30 the order to drop hawser. The speed of the tug and tow at this time was about 2 knots. The tug then began maneuvering on the extreme north side of the channel to make fast to the Tulpehocken and bunch the tow. The barge Glenside, free of the other barge and the tug, came along under her own way, a little to its port of the center of the channel, not as far up the channel as the tug, and 500 or 600 feet away from it. There was evidence, and I find, that it is customary for tows to be bunched before entering the channel when conditions permit, and, though there were no conditions of weather or tide which prevented it, that was not done in this case.
The steamship Black Point, a collier in the coastal trade, left the Metropolitan coal dock in Chelsea at 7:55, and proceeded down the harbor at varying speeds and courses. The captain, when some distance away, saw the Valley Forge and the Tulpehocken on the north side (or his port side) of the channel. He also saw a vessel which later turned out to be the Glenside coming up the channel near the center, somewhat to his starboard. So far as he could discern when he first saw it, this boat had a green side light and some white lights showing, and he believed it was a small gasoline boat. The Black Point's speed was about 5½ knots and her position about the center of the channel. He blew one whistle to the tug, by which he meant that he proposed, unless he heard something to the contrary, to keep his course, passing the tug port to port and later the Glenside starboard to starboard. There was no answering whistle from the Valley Forge. Thereupon the tug, which had been displaying red and green side lights and one white mast head light, turned on another white light under the one already there. This was done when the tug made fast to the Tulpehocken, and was proper. The captain of the Black Point then saw that the Glenside had two white lights in a horizontal line on the stern, which indicated that it was the stern barge in a tow. The captain of the Black Point testified, and I find that he then thought the tug or the Tulpehocken had a line out to the Glenside, that to proceed on his course would involve the probability of fouling the hawser and the possibility of serious damage to his own and the other vessels, and that, if the tug had answered his whistle with one blast, or had not flashed on the extra light, or had flashed on the light and answered with one blast, he would have proceeded across her bow and...
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