Columbus Company v. Shore

• Decision Date: 24 March 1960
• Docket Number: No. 18063.,18063.
• Citation: 276 F.2d 93
• Parties: COLUMBUS COMPANY, Ltd., Claimant of THE M/V SONIA II, Appellant, v. David SHORE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

276 F.2d 93 (1960)

COLUMBUS COMPANY, Ltd., Claimant of THE M/V SONIA II, Appellant, v. David SHORE, Appellee.

No. 18063.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

March 24, 1960.

Richard B. Adams, Brown, Dean, Adams & Fischer, Miami, Fla., for appellant.

Cromwell A. Anderson, Miami, Fla., Smathers, Thompson & Dyer, Miami, Fla., for appellee.

Before HUTCHESON, BROWN and WISDOM, Circuit Judges.

HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree in admiralty entered on findings of fact and conclusions of law in favor of libelant for damage to a cargo of bananas. These are the facts, stated, as they must be, most favorably for appellee and as they were in substance found by the court:

Respondent's agent, Carl Sawyer, entered into an oral charter of the "Sonia II" with libelant for the transportation of a cargo of bananas which libelant was purchasing from the Haitian government. The "Sonia II" was equipped with refrigeration machinery and it was understood that the bananas were to be carried under refrigeration. This refrigeration equipment consisted of a main compressor, of approximately twenty-five tons capacity and an auxiliary compressor with a capacity of eight tons. By itself, the auxiliary compressor was not capable of cooling freshly loaded bananas in the "Sonia II's" holds to the necessary fifty-six to fifty-eight degrees nor was it even capable of maintaining a temperature below sixty degrees during the voyage. The vessel could not be operated as a refrigerated banana vessel with only the auxiliary unit in working order.

In accordance with the charter, the "Sonia II" departed from Nassau on August 16, 1956, and arrived at its first port of call in Haiti on August 19, 1956. During the loading operation, which required three days in five Haitian ports, the main refrigeration compressor broke down and remained disabled for the balance of the voyage to Miami. There is no testimony in the record that the refrigerating machinery was in "good operating order" prior to the commencement of loading, although a switch on the main compressor had been replaced more than two months prior to this voyage at a cost of sixteen dollars and the compressor was operated at that time.

The "Sonia II's" captain receipted for the bananas in apparent good order and condition on the bills of lading and there is no testimony in the record that they were in any condition other than fit for shipment. Upon arrival in Miami, libelant met the ship at the dock...