Morris & Cumings Dredging Co. v. Moran Towing & Transportation Co.
| Decision Date | 04 August 1908 |
| Parties | MORRIS & CUMINGS DREDGING CO. v. MORAN TOWING & TRANSPORTATION CO. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Armstrong Brown & Boland (Pierre M. Brown, of counsel), for libelant.
James J. Macklin, for respondent.
Upon the 13th day of January, 1906, the Moran Transportation Company, the libelant herein, sent two of its tugs to sea towing scows loaded with mud. One of these tugs, the Eugene F. Moran, started from Pier 58, North river at about 11 o'clock in the morning of that day, having in tow the scow 42-M, an ordinary six-pocket dump scow, and scow 40-M, a four-pocket scow of the same sort.
Going down through the Narrows the hawsers were lengthened, so that about 200 fathoms separated the tug and scow 42. Scow 40 was about 80 fathoms behind scow 42. The tug Catherine Moran was some little distance in advance of the Eugene F. Moran, and had also in tow two scows, between which the hawsers parted when outside of Sandy Hook. The Catherine Moran succeeded in dumping the other scow, but did not get entirely out to the dumping grounds, and on her return picked up the scow which had gone adrift, and towed the two scows, side by side, back to New York. When off the point of Sandy Hook, in the neighborhood of the outer fairway buoy, at about 4:30 in the afternoon, something happened to the rear scow, 40-M, in tow of the Eugene F. Moran, as a result of which she turned turtle, the scowman disappeared and has never been heard from, and shortly thereafter the scowman upon scow 42-M disappeared from the deck of his scow, and has likewise never been heard from to the present time.
The attention of the tug was called to the fact that something was wrong with scow 40 by the appearance of the scow and by the scowman waving his hat, and the tug, having cut its hawser, turned around under a port helm and was within a short distance of scow 42, when it turned over and the scowman was lost. By that time it had become dark, the sea was rough, and the tug Eugene F. Moran returned up the bay but later went back and cruised around, seeking the scows, which were ultimately found, when day broke, on the beach upon the Jersey shore, near the Conover Beacon, not far from the point where Sandy Hook joins the mainland; scow 42 being some distance from scow 40, and having its pockets still partially filled with mud, while scow 40 was bottom up, and with a hole extending across four of the bottom planks of the scow, each of these planks being 12 inches in width. This hole was about in the middle of the bottom of the scow, and penetrated the bulkhead or air chamber running across the scow. Two of the pockets were forward of this bulkhead and two aft, and one of the doors from one of the pockets next to this air chamber or bulkhead was broken loose from its chain hinges or fastenings; also the long chain running to the gear by which the doors were opened and closed was missing from the end of the door furthest from this air chamber. These chains are some 28 feet long, and are at least 8 feet longer than the distance between the shaft and the lower corner of the door when the doors are open, and the door in question, still fastened by the chain nearest to the air chamber, was entirely out of the pocket where it belonged and over in the pocket beyond the air chamber, in such position that the corner of the door projected above the bottom of the scow, as she lay overturned on the beach, some 3 or 4 feet. It may be stated for the sake of clearness that each of the four pockets has two doors, about 20 feet long, 8 or 9 feet wide, and 8 inches thick, made of oak, bound with several hundred pounds of iron, and of such weight that they will speedily sink unless supported. These doors run fore and aft, and open from the center downward; the chain hinges being upon the outside of each door, while the long chains running to the shaft are attached to the inside edges of the doors, which close on a line approximately corresponding to what would be the keel of the scow.
The libelant has offered testimony to show that the day was stormy and the wind strong. The government observer in New York testified that the...
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... ... Bouker (D.C.) ... 141 F. 480; Southern Towing Co. v. Egan, 184 F. 275, ... 106 C.C.A. 417; ... James P. Donaldson (D.C.) 19 F. 264; The Morris & ... Cummings Dredge Co. v. Moran Towing & ... ...
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Morris & Cumings Dredging Co. v. Moran Towing & Transportation Co.
...of counsel), for appellee. Before LACOMBE, WARD, and NOYES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. Decree affirmed, on opinion of District Court. 163 F. 610. ...