Cahan Sugar Refining Company v. the Steamship Wildcroft

Citation26 S.Ct. 467,50 L.Ed. 794,201 U.S. 378
Decision Date02 April 1906
Docket NumberNo. 127,127
PartiesW. J. McCAHAN SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, Petitioner , v. THE STEAMSHIP WILDCROFT, James Cassap, Master and Claimant
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Messrs. Horace L. Cheyney and John F. Lewis for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 378-380 intentionally omitted] Messrs. J. Parker Kirlin and Charles R. Hickox for respondent.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 380-384 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

The original action was begun by the filing of a libel in the district court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by the petitioner, with respect to a cargo of sugar of which it was the consignec, shipped upon the steamship Wildcroft from ports in Cuba to Philadelphia. The evidence showed that in the month of April, 1901, the Wildcroft, having discharged a cargo of coal at the port of Havana, proceeded to Cardenas and Matanzas, where she took on the load of sugar, to be delivered to the petitioner in Philadelphia. This sugar was stored in bags in holds Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the ship. On the voyage a severe storm was encountered and some damage was done by salt water finding its way into hold No. 3 because of the tearing away of the tarpaulins over the hatches and the washing off of the starboard ventilator cover. At the hearing in the district court the claim for damage, because of injury alleged to have been caused to the sugar in holds Nos. 1 and 2, was held to be waived by the libellant, who disclaimed damage on that account. And the district judge added, we think correctly, as to the surface damage in hold No. 3, 'This damage was concededly caused by a peril of the seas.' There is nothing in the testimony to show that the injury to the cargo of sugar in holds Nos. 3 and 4 of the vessel by means of fresh water was occasioned until the ship arrived at Philadelphia.

A more distinct understanding of the construction of the vessel and the manner in which fresh water could be communicated to hold No. 3, and from thence into hold No. 4, may be had by a perusal of the full finding of the facts made in the case in the district court (124 Fed. 631, 126 Fed. 229), approved by the circuit court of appeals (65 C. C. A. 145, 130 Fed. 521), which findings fully explain the situation and the method by which the injury was inflicted. It is enough for us to say that both courts unite in the conclusion that the cargo was injured on Monday, April 29, after the ship arrived at the dock in Philadelphia, when, because of the letting in of fresh water for the purpose of filling the engine-room tank, which was accomplished by opening a valve on the ship's side which admits water from the river, and because of an open cock to a valve in the connection from the tank-filling pipe to the service or feed donkey, connecting with the distribution box, water was permitted to flow from the tank-filling pipe through this open cock to the distribution chest and down a pipe and through a valve, which must have also been held open in some way so that water flowed into this suction pipe leading into No. 3 hold, and flowing thence into No. 4 hold, damaged the cargo of sugar therein contained. It is evident from the testimony that if these cocks, and more particularly the one marked 'D,' had been properly closed, the water could not have found its way into the holds and inflicted the damage. Of these findings the circuit court of appeals, adopting the conclusions of the court below, said: 'All of the testimony in this respect is uncontradicted, and no facts are shown from which any other conclusion can be drawn, than that the water which came into the bottom of these holds, to the depth of several feet, doing the damage in question, came in after the early morning of the 29th of April, and before the close of that day, while the cargo was being discharged at the wharf in Philadelphia. It is not disputed that the water was fresh water, such as was the water in the Delaware river, in which she was lying. In connection with these facts, it was shown by the testimony that the sea cock for filling the engine-room tank was open at 10 o'clock that morning, and kept open for a period of three hours, and that if two certain cocks, fully described in the evidence and pointed out by the learned judge of the court below, were left open by accident or design, there would be a free flow of water from the open sea cock into the bilges of hold No. 3. Directly after the filling of the tank and the closing of the sea cock, water to a considerable depth was reported in holds No. 3 and No. 4. This sea cock had not been open from the time the cargo was put on board in Cuba until, as just stated, on the morning of the 29th of April, at Philadelphia. We think the court below was fully justified in its finding, that the damage here in question was due to 'the water that flowed into the hold through the pipe line on April 29th, in the manner just described,' and that 'it is impossible that the damage could have occurred in any other way."

In order to have the benefit of the exemptions provided in the Harter act (27 Stat. at L. 445, chap. 105, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 2946) against errors of management or navigation, by reason of the 3d section, which was relied upon in the case it was incumbent upon the shipowner to prove that the vessel was seaworthy at the time of beginning the voyage, or that due diligence had been used to make her so. International Nav. Co. v. Farr & B. Mfg. Co. 181 U. S. 218, 45 L. ed. 830, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 591; The...

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