In re Highland Nav. Corporation

• Decision Date: 10 December 1927
• Citation: 24 F.2d 582
• Parties: In re HIGHLAND NAV. CORPORATION.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

24 F.2d 582 (1927)

In re HIGHLAND NAV. CORPORATION.

District Court, S. D. New York.

December 10, 1927.

Barry, Wainwright, Thacher & Symmers, and John C. Crawley, all of New York City, for petitioner.

George P. Nicholson, of New York City, and Charles J. Carroll, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for claimant.

BONDY, District Judge.

This is a proceeding for the limitation of the liability of the owner of the steamships Nassau and Grand Republic, which were destroyed by fire on the night of April 25, 1924. It has been stipulated as follows:

In accordance with a permit granted by the city of New York, the owner of the pier at 155th street and North River, and of the land under water adjacent thereto, the Grand Republic had been tied along the northerly side of the pier, and the steel steamer Highlander had been moored outside the Grand Republic, and the Nassau outside the Highlander during the winter. They had been overhauled in preparation for active service. The Nassau had passed her annual inspection by the United States steamboat inspectors. The inspection of the Grand Republic had been begun, but had not been completed. The Nassau sank at a point alongside the southerly side of the pier, to which she had been towed during the fire. The Grand Republic sank in the slip, and inside the pier end line.

There was in force at the time of the fire section 120, article 8, chapter 8, of the Ordinances of the City of New York, which provided that, in case any vessel shall be sunk or wrecked, and be abandoned for 10 days, the commissioner shall notify the owner of such abandoned vessel to remove the same forthwith, and if he fails to comply with the notice the commissioner shall cause the vessel to be removed, and that the expense of such removal shall be recoverable by action from the owner, and shall be a lien on the vessel removed until paid, and that, if not claimed within 30 days after the removal the vessel shall be sold, and the proceeds of sale shall be paid into the city treasury. Upon the sinking of the vessels the petitioner abandoned them. After being requested by the commissioner of the department of docks to move the wrecks of the vessels, petitioner informed the commissioner that the wrecks had been abandoned, that one offer had been received to remove the wrecks for $20,500 and another for $40,000, and that petitioner denied any obligation to remove the abandoned wrecks. The petitioner also notified the Secretary of War of the abandonment, but the War Department declined to remove the wrecks, because they lay to the shore-ward of the pier line.

The engineer had returned to the Nassau about 11 p. m. April 25, and had thrown some soft coal on the fire, closed the door of the firebox, and, believing everything to be in order, had left the Nassau and gone to bed on board the Highlander. Neither the petitioner nor the master had directed any one to remain on duty in the fireroom during the night. There was no one on duty in the fireroom after the fire had been banked about 5 p. m. There was no steam in the Nassau after that hour. There was no fire under the boilers of any of the other vessels. It was also stipulated that, if witnesses were called, they would testify that it is customary on boats owned by the city of New York to keep a competent man on duty in the fireroom during the night, but it is not customary or usual for vessel owners other than the city of New York to keep a man on duty in the fireroom during the night, even though there be fire in the firebox, unless his presence be required to keep up steam; that the man employed by the petitioner to watch the Nassau, the Grand Republic, and Highlander at night was a competent and experienced watchman, and that he was on duty at the time of the fire; that he made his last round of inspection at about midnight, when he went over the deck of the Nassau and to the entrance of the fireroom and engineroom.

It was admitted that neither party knows of any statute, ordinance or regulation requiring the owner to provide a man to remain on duty in the fireroom of the Nassau during the night of April 25th. It was further stipulated that, unless the court can hold as a matter of law that the petitioner was negligent in not providing a man to remain on duty in the fireroom of the Nassau during that night, and that such negligence debars the petitioner from obtaining a limitation of liability, no negligence on the part of the petitioner or its servants could be shown, and that the burning and sinking of the vessels was without the privity or knowledge of the petitioner, leaving as the only question in the case whether the petitioner is entitled to a limitation of liability with reference to any claim the city may have against the petitioner by virtue of the ordinance.

The city of New York contends that the petitioner cannot limit its liability to the city for the expense of removing the wrecks from the land under water, owned by the city, because the contract for making the vessels fast to the wharf was not a contract for wharfage, but a lease of so much of the wharf as was required for the purpose of tying the vessels to the wharf, and because, when they were destroyed, they had been withdrawn from navigation and in dead storage for the winter (see The James T. Furber D. C. 129 F. 808; The C. Vanderbilt D. C. 86 F. 785, affirmed C. C. A. 93 F. 986; The Richard Winslow D. C. 67 F. 259, affirmed C. C. A. 71 F. 426), and because the lease was a contract nonmaritime in its nature, and because there was implied in it a promise made by the petitioner to surrender the leased premises in the condition in which they were when the term commenced, and a promise by the petitioner to comply with the ordinance and to remove the wrecks or pay the cost of removal, and because the liability therefor arises out of obligations assumed personally by the petitioner, and not out of any obligation imputed to it by reason of any act of the master or crew. See Richardson v. Harmon, 222 U. S. 96, 32 S. Ct. 27, 56 L. Ed. 110; Pendleton v. Benner Line, 246 U. S. 353, 38 S. Ct. 330, 62 L. Ed. 770; Great Lakes Towing Co. v. Mill Transp. Co. (C. C. A.) 155 F. 11, 22 L. R. A. (N. S.) 769; The Loyal (C. C. A.) 204 F. 930.

It is well settled that a shipowner whose vessel has been wrecked and sunk without his fault has a right to abandon it, and that after abandonment he is not under any obligation whatsoever to raise or remove it, and is not personally liable for the expense of removal. This is so, though an act of Congress (Rivers and Harbors Act March, 1899, § 20 33 USCA § 415; Comp. St. § 9925) authorizes the Secretary of War to remove obstructions to navigation, and provides that the expense shall be a...