International Navigation Company v. Farr Bailey Manufacturing Company
Decision Date | 22 April 1901 |
Docket Number | No. 193,193 |
Parties | INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATION COMPANY, Petitioner , v. FARR & BAILEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This was an action brought by the Farr & Bailey Manufacturing Company against the International Navigation Company, owner of the steamship Indiana, in the district court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, in admiralty, to recover the sum of $2,084.15, for damages to twenty bales of burlaps which were delivered to the navigation company at Liverpool, England, on board that steamship, in good order and condition, for carriage to the manufacturing company at Philadelphia. Upon the arrival of the steamship at Philadelphia the burlaps were found to have been damaged by sea water. The case was heard in the district court, and the libel sustained, and the cause referred to a commissioner to determine the extent of the loss. 94 Fed. Rep. 675. The navigation company applied for a reargument, which was had, and thereupon the libel was dismissed. 94 Fed. Rep. 678. From this decree the manufacturing company appealed to the circuit court of appeals for the third circuit, and that court, one of its members dissenting, reversed the decree of the district court, and held the navigation company liable. 39 C. C. A. 197, 98 Fed. Rep. 636. The case was then brought to this court on certiorari.
In the first opinion of the district court it was stated that —
'We have little difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the vessel was a staunch boat, properly manned, equipped, and supplied, and that she was in all respects fit for the voyage, except in the one respect of which the libellant complains,—the condition of the after port on the starboard side in compartment No. 3.'
And it was found 'as a fact, that the port in question was either not fastened at all, or was insecurely fastened, when the vessel left Liverpool.'
In the second opinion it was said:
The circuit court of appeals said that——
And found as to the port:
'The impression made upon us by the evidence is that it was probably closed, but, be this as it may, certain it is that it was not securely fastened; and we are of opinion that, by reason of this fact, the vessel was unseaworthy.'
Messrs. J. Rodman Paul and Biddle & Ward for petitioner.
Messrs. John F. Lewis and Horace L. Cheyney for respondent.
Counsel for petitioner states that the question raised on this record is: 'Was the Indiana unseaworthy at the time of beginning her voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, or was the failure to securely fasten the port covers and keep them fastened a fault or error in the management of the vessel under the exemption of the 'Harter act?"
Act of February 13, 1893 (27 Stat. at L. 445, chap. 105), entitled 'An Act Relating to Navigation of Vessels, Bills of Lading, and to Certain Obligations, Duties, and Rights in Connection with the Carriage of Property.' The 1st, 2d, and 3d sections read:
'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United The courts below concurred in the conclusion that the Indiana was unseaworthy when she sailed because of the condition of the porthole, but the district judge on the reargument felt constrained to yield his individual convictions to the rule he understood to have been laid down in The Silvia, 171 U. S. 462, 43 L. ed. 241, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 7.
The Silvia was decided, as all these cases must be, upon its particular facts and circumstances. The case is thus stated by Mr. Justice Gray, who delivered the opinion of the court:
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