The Annie Lord

• Decision Date: 29 December 1917
• Docket Number: 1457.
• Citation: 251 F. 157
• Parties: THE ANNIE LORD. THE FLORA L. OLIVER.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

251 F. 157

THE ANNIE LORD. THE FLORA L. OLIVER.

No. 1457.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

December 29, 1917

J. M Marshall, of Gloucester, Mass., for libelant.

Blodgett Jones, Burnham & Bingham, of Boston, Mass., for claimant.

MORTON District Judge.

This salvage case was heard in open court on December 18, 1917. At the conclusion of the arguments I gave judgment orally, and said that I would put on file a formal memorandum of decision sufficient for the purposes of appeal.

The Annie Lord was a three-masted schooner. She sailed with a cargo of lumber from Windsor, N.S., for Fall River, Mass about January 20, 1916. On or about February 19th following she was knocked down by a squall and filled with water. She became waterlogged and unmanageable. The crew were driven on deck. In this condition she was found next day by the Flora L. Oliver in the early afternoon. The weather was severe, very co d, with a high wind and rough sea. The crew of the Lord had suffered considerably from exposure and were in a precarious situation; several of them were already frost-bitten, and it is doubtful whether they would have survived the coming night without serious loss or injury. At the request of the master of the Annie Lord, the Oliver took off the crew. All, including the master, went to bed at once. Most of them stayed below until the Oliver reached port, and none did any work. Those who were frost-bitten received such care and treatment as was possible under the circumstances.

The Annie Lord, at the time of the rescue, was about 16 miles east-southeast of Thacher's Island Light. The wind was strong from the west. Capt. Brown of the Oliver decided to try to tow the Lord into Boston. Five men from the Oliver accordingly went aboard the Lord put more sail on her, and endeavored to shape her course as well as they could. On account of her water-logged condition, and perhaps for other reasons, she did not mind her helm; but her course could be more or less altered by the trim of her sails. The work was so exposing and the weather so severe that the Oliver's men found it impossible to stay long at a time on the Lord and were frequently changed; but I do not gather that at the beginning of the tow the conditions were such as to involve any considerable danger to men accustomed to the sea.

During the night the wind drew to the north and increased. The cold became more intense, and the sea reached a point described by Capt. Merriam, of the Lord, as 'very rough.' The tow lines parted several times and were repaired. Finally, about 1:30 a.m., they again broke. There were no further lines available, the weather was extremely bad, and the frost-bitten men of the Lord's crew were apparently in need of medical attention. The master of the Oliver decided to give over the attempt to tow the Lord into port. At this time the vessels had reached a point about five or six miles to the northeast of Minot's Ledge Light. It was a bad situation for the Lord if the wind should draw more to the northeast. Capt. Brown accordingly gave instructions to have the course of the Lord changed; she was headed straight off shore, and her sails were trimmed so as to give her an easterly course. A signal lantern was hung in the Lord's rigging to warn other vessels, and two or three torches were lighted and placed on her decks for the same purpose, and to assist in identifying and locating her.

The Oliver then, not without difficulty, and perhaps some danger took off her men from the Lord and bore away for Gloucester, where she arrived early the following forenoon. She was so badly iced up that it was impossible to work her sails, and she had to be towed into port. One of her crew testified that, in 40-odd years at sea, it was the worst night within his experience. This is perhaps somewhat of an exaggeration, but I think there can be no doubt that it was a very severe time. Having arrived at Gloucester, most of the Lord's men were sent to the hospital, where, however, they did not stay long; and Capt. Merriam, at the suggestion of Capt. Brown, went to the telephone, called up the custom house, and arranged to have the United States revenue cutter Gresham, then in the port of Boston, notified to go out and pick up the Annie Lord. Capt. Brown testified that he was unable to do this himself because of the condition of his own vessel, which required his attention, and that it took his crew all that day and part of the next to get the ice off her, so that she was fit to go to sea. The Gresham, as a...