COMPLAINT OF COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE

• Decision Date: 17 April 1975
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 914-71.
• Citation: 392 F. Supp. 973
• Parties: Complaint of COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, Plaintiff, as owner of the S. S. ANTILLES.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

392 F. Supp. 973

Complaint of COMPAGNIE GENERALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, Plaintiff, as owner of the S. S. ANTILLES.

Civ. No. 914-71.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

April 17, 1975.

Vicente M. Ydrach, Hartzell, Ydrach, Mellado, Santiago, Perez & Novas, Hato Rey, P. R., for petitioner.

Jose Antonio Fuste, Jiminez & Fuste, San Juan, P. R., for claimants.

OPINION

BEEKS,^* District Judge:

This case arises from the grounding of the French passenger liner ANTILLES on an uncharted reef in the Grenadine Islands of the Caribbean Sea. The grounding occurred at 1621 hours on January 8, 1971 as ANTILLES was attempting a westerly passage of the channel that is bounded by the Island of Mustique to the South, and the group of rocks known as The Pillories, to the North.

As a result of the casualty, the owner and operator of ANTILLES, Compagnie Generale Transatlantique ("Owner"), filed a petition for limitation of or exoneration from liability in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. A number of claimants duly entered the limitation proceeding, and moved the New York Court to transfer the case to the District of Puerto Rico pursuant to Rule F(9), Supplemental Rules, Fed.R.Civ.P. and 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). Subsequent to the transfer of the action to the District of Puerto Rico, several claimants filed direct action suits against Owner and its insurers.¹ These suits have been stayed pending the outcome of this proceeding.² The parties stipulated in advance of trial that the total of all claims filed against Owner would not exceed the amount of Owner's liability if limitation were granted:³ limitation of liability, therefore, is no longer an issue of the case. It has been further stipulated that determination of the amount of damages, if necessary, is to be submitted to a special master. The sole issue now before the Court is whether Owner is entitled to exoneration from liability for damages arising out of the grounding of ANTILLES.

Grandly conceived and luxuriously appointed, ANTILLES was a vessel of imposing proportions. Having a length of 568 feet, a beam of 80 feet and a displacement of 20,263 tons, ANTILLES was one of the largest passenger vessels of the French merchant fleet. Although her port of registry was L'Havre, ANTILLES was employed during the winter months in the Caribbean cruise trade. The months of November, December and January found ANTILLES touring the Caribbean on cruises of one week to eleven days duration. During the 1970-1971 winter season, ANTILLES regularly visited Puerto Rico, Curacao, Venezuela, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Thomas.

The Caribbean winter cruise trade is highly competitive and vessels of many flags compete for tourist patronage. The various steamship companies seek to maximize their shares of the market by striving to provide the most elegant vessels, comfortable accommodations, sumptuous cuisine and varied recreation. The companies also endeavor to make their itineraries as interesting as possible, visiting the most exotic and beautiful areas accessible within the constraints of time and distance.

It is apparent from the record, and indeed is not contested, that the policy of Owner was to allow the masters of its vessels latitude to deviate from accustomed courses to take their vessels nearer to islands of unusual beauty or special interest. This was done to provide passengers the opportunity to see places not ordinarily visited by cruise ships, and to distinguish the cruises of Owner's vessels from those of competing steamship lines. It was in the course of such a deviation that ANTILLES met with disaster.

ANTILLES began her final cruise on January 5, 1971, departing San Juan, Puerto Rico, bound for Willemstad, Curacao, Neth. W. I. The vessel arrived at Willemstad, off the coast of Venezuela, on January 6. In the early morning of January 7 she was again underway, en route to La Guaira, Venezuela, where she arrived at 0700 hours.

By the evening of January 7 ANTILLES had departed La Guaira and was bound for Bridgetown, Barbados. This leg of ANTILLES' voyage put her on a generally northeasterly heading through the group of islands known as the Grenadines. Her projected course, plotted on a French chart of the Grenadines⁴ was to take her, on the afternoon of January 8, along the eastern coast of Mustique Island, and then northwesterly past the western shore of the Island of Baliceaux. This projected course would have put ANTILLES one mile east of Mustique as she traveled along the coast of that island.

However, on the morning of January 8 the master of ANTILLES, Captain Kerverdo, decided upon a different course, one that would take ANTILLES closer along the eastern shore of Mustique, and then westerly through the passage north of Mustique and south of The Pillories. The testimony and exhibits reflect that Mustique is an island of great natural beauty: Captain Kerverdo's decision to alter course was undertaken to provide ANTILLES' passengers a better look at this enchanting isle, and was consistent with the Captain's desire to implement Owner's policy of making ANTILLES' cruises entertaining and unique.

The passage between Mustique and The Pillories is limited by Single Rock on the North, and by Double Rock on the South. The expanse of open water between Single and Double Rocks is about 700 yards. Soundings shown on the French chart used by ANTILLES indicate depths of thirteen and sixteen meters, respectively, to the east and west of the channel between Single and Double Rocks.⁵ ANTILLES' maximum draft was 8.0 meters.⁶

At 1621 hours, as ANTILLES was proceeding through the passage at a speed of sixteen knots, she grounded amidships, broke in two, and caught fire. The wreck of ANTILLES now marks the position of a theretofore uncharted reef that lies between Single and Double Rocks.

Claimants, passengers on the final voyage of ANTILLES, seek to recover on personal injury and property claims arising out of the grounding of the vessel.⁷ They assert that ANTILLES was unseaworthy at the time of her stranding, and that the stranding was the result of unseaworthiness and of negligence on the part of the vessel's officers and crew.

Although claimants couch their allegations in terms of both negligence and unseaworthiness, Owner can be liable only upon a finding of negligence. The warranty of seaworthiness and the absolute liability that attaches to the breach thereof is applicable only to seamen: There is no implied warranty of seaworthiness extended to passengers.⁸ Nonetheless, any failure to provide a seaworthy vessel might properly be considered in a determination of whether Owner has conformed to the standard of care owed to passengers.

A carrier is bound to exercise the highest degree of care and dilligence in providing for the safety of its passengers.⁹ Claimants first allege that Owner breached this duty by failing to provide a seaworthy vessel. Allegations of the unseaworthiness of ANTILLES relate to the operational status of electronic navigational equipment aboard the vessel, and to the use of certain charts, the adequacy of which is called into question.

The evidence adduced offers no support for those claims of unseaworthiness based upon alleged inoperability of ANTILLES' electronic navigational equipment, and such claims are not pursued in claimants' post-trial brief. I find these claims to be without merit.

Claimants' post-trial brief emphasizes ANTILLES' use of the French chart of the Grenadines as the basis for a finding of unseaworthiness. Claimants assert that a chart of the same area published by the United States Naval Oceanographic Office is a superior chart in that it is based upon a more recent survey, shows soundings at more frequent intervals, and delineates the ten fathom curve around shoal waters.

The testimony of Captain Kerverdo indicates that regulations promulgated by Owner required him to use the French chart for navigating ANTILLES, and that he was, in fact, using the French chart at the time of the grounding. Captain Kerverdo also testified that a copy of the American chart was kept on the bridge for reference.¹⁰

The degree to which the charts in question might properly be relied upon will be discussed more fully below: the present question is whether the charts provided ANTILLES by Owner were so inadequate for their intended use as to render the vessel unseaworthy.

The French chart upon which ANTILLES' officers plotted the vessel's course was first published in 1875 by the Service Hydrographique de la Marine, and is based on a survey taken in 1861. The American chart, kept on the bridge for reference, is based upon a British survey undertaken in 1891. Both charts are on a scale of 1:72,560. Soundings on the French chart are in meters; those on the American chart are in fathoms. The French chart depicts the ten meter curve around shoal waters while the American chart shows the ten and five fathom curves. It is alleged by claimants that the American chart reveals soundings taken at closer intervals, and would more readily alert a navigator to the presence of certain navigational hazards.

The French chart was kept current in accordance with weekly notices in Avis Aux Navigateurs, published by the Service Hydrographique. The chart used by ANTILLES, a 1959 edition, reflected all changes reported by Avis Aux Navigateurs: it was current through the date of the accident. Notice to Mariners, the United States Naval Oceanographic Office publication by which American charts are kept current, carried a report in 1970 of a reef being extended beyond its charted position on the southwest coast of Mustique. Neither chart carried by ANTILLES reflected this change. The Avis Aux Navigateurs carried no equivalent notice, and ANTILLES did not receive Notice to Mariners. The reef reported extended in 1970 southwest of Mustique was not involved in the demise of ANTILLES.

The testimony in this case...