THE BILL, 2533.
| Decision Date | 28 November 1942 |
| Docket Number | No. 2533.,2533. |
| Citation | 47 F. Supp. 969 |
| Parties | THE BILL. BRAZIL OITICICA, Ltd., v. THE BILL et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Lord & Whip and Geo. W. P. Whip, all of Baltimore, Md., and Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston, Henry N. Longley, and F. Herbert Prem, all of New York City, for libelant.
Ritchie, Janney, Ober & Williams and Robt. W. Williams, all of Baltimore, Md., and Hatch & Wolfe and Carver W. Wolfe, all of New York City, for claimant.
This admiralty case is a libel in rem to recover for a cargo loss. On January 24, 1942 Brazil Oiticica, Ltd., S/A shipped 385,000 kilos (848,925 lbs.) of oiticica oil at Ceara, Brazil, in the starboard and port deep tanks of the SS "Bill", for carriage to New York. Approximately 190 long tons (425,600 lbs.) of the oil were stowed in the starboard deep tank. When stowage of the oil was completed the depth of the oil in that tank was 20 feet with an ullage of about 3 feet. Upon the arrival of the vessel in New York there remained only a few inches of oil in the starboard tank, nearly all of the oil having been pumped overboard during the course of the voyage. The reason for this was that a small hole developed in the bilge pipe extending along the bottom of the starboard deep tank which permitted the oil to flow forward through the pipe into the bilge well from which it would have overflowed into the bilges along the sides of the forward holds of the ship and then into the forward holds. Ordinarily the non-return valve in the bilge line between the forward bulkhead of the deep tank and the bilge well would have prevented the oil from flowing into the bilge well; but the valve had become glued or stuck open by the oil, which thus drained from the deep tank through the hole in the bilge pipe into the bilge well. Practically all of the oil in the starboard tank was thus pumped overboard through the bilge line to prevent damage to the other cargo in the forward holds. The libelants assert that the value of the oil lost was approximately $100,000.
The SS "Bill" owned by the respondent was a general ship engaged for the common carriage of merchandise. The presence of the oil in the bilges was first discovered on February 9, 1942 when the ship was approximately off Cape Hatteras. It was pumped out on that and two succeeding days. The bill of lading issued January 24, 1942 recited that it was subject to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of the United States, approved April 16, 1936, 46 U.S.C.A. § 1300 et seq. Section 1303 (1) provides:
Section 1304(1) provides:
As hereinafter more fully stated, the cargo loss in this case was proximately caused by the unseaworthiness of the ship, and therefore the principal question in the case is whether under the facts, not greatly in dispute, the shipowners had exercised due diligence to make the ship seaworthy, and safe for the carriage of the oil. Most of the evidence in the case was submitted in open court but there were also some depositions of most of the officers of the ship which, after its release, upon stipulation filed, has since been sunk or otherwise lost as a result of enemy action. The structural design of the ship becomes of importance in determining the principal question of fact in the case as to the exercise of due diligence by the shipowner. From the evidence in the case I make the following findings of fact.
1. The SS "Bill" was built in Norway in 1939 as a cargo carrying ship of 4,020 tons dead weight, 316 feet long and 47 feet wide. It was built in accordance with the rules of Norske Veritas. A plan of the ship is in evidence. The port and starboard deep tanks were located between the forward hold and the fire room. The forward hold was forward of the deep tanks. The skin of the ship formed the bottom of the deep tanks. There were double bottom tanks under the forward hold but not in the deep tanks. In the forward hold the double bottom tanks were so constructed as to leave a shallow fore and aft bilge gutter 8 inches deep along the ship's sides. This fore and aft bilge gutter was designed to collect any sweat and seepage around the rivets, which might run down the ship's side, and lead it to the after end of the hold where there was a bilge well extending inboard from the ship's side a distance of 7 feet 2 inches, 2 feet fore and aft, and with a depth of 33 inches. The margin plate covering the outboard portion of this well was pierced by two holes through which water drained aft could reach the well. A sounding pipe extended from the bilge well to the main deck.
2. The vessel was equipped with a bilge pump in the engine room. From that pump a pipe led from the engine room through the fireroom to a manifold located a few inches aft of the forward fireroom bulkhead which also formed the after bulkhead of the deep tank. The bilge suction pipe line serving the after starboard bilge well of the forward hold extended down from this manifold a distance of approximately 5 feet into a dry well immediately aft of the fireroom bulkhead; it then turned and was made fast by a flange to the fireroom bulkhead. Thence it extended through the starboard deep tank, was made fast by a flange to the forward bulkhead of the deep tank, passed into the after end of the double bottom tank of the forward hold, curved outboard and connected to a non-return valve made fast to the inboard side of the starboard after bilge well of the forward hold. This bilge pipe ran through the entire length of the starboard deep tank generally level to the skin of the ship and less than a foot from the skin. The fore and aft length of the starboard deep tank was approximately 15 feet. The portion of the pipe immediately forward of the after deep tank bulkhead about 3 feet in length was constructed of steel which was more adaptable to the expansion bend of the pipe at that point. The remainder of the pipe in the starboard deep tank was constructed of cast iron.
3. Before the oiticica oil was placed in the deep tank at Ceara, Brazil, an examination of the deep tank was made to see that it was clean and proper for the reception of the oil. No test was made of the integrity of the bilge pipe at that time other than a very casual visual examination in which some one ran his hand along the pipe or some portion of it. From time to time in the ordinary course of the ship's routine the bilges are tested and occasionally some pumping is done therefrom, but this is not apparently of sufficient special importance to note in the log. There was some evidence of pumping of the bilges of the ship shortly before the ship reached Ceara, but it is not clear that the bilges were pumped after she left that port on her voyage to New York until February 9. No one in the crew of the ship suspected that there was any defect in the bilge pipe, and none was discovered until February 9, when the ship was approaching Hatteras, it was found that there was about 24 inches of oil in the starboard bilge well. The bilge line was then pumped but a few hours later there was an equal amount of oil in the bilge well. It was feared that this would overflow into the forward holds and damage the cargo there unless the bilge well was kept pumped out. Accordingly the oil was pumped from time to time from the bilge well until the level of the oil in the starboard tank was below the bilge pipe.
4. After the ship had docked at New York a steam test was made on the bilge pipe which developed the fact that there was then a hole in it (about 5/8 of an inch by 1/2 inch), the presence of which had been definitely suspected as a result of the necessary pumping. This hole was in the steel portion of the pipe immediately forward of the after bulkhead of the starboard deep tank. This portion of the pipe was removed and on chemical and metallurgical tests it was found that it had corroded from the inside as a result of the action of sulphurous acid in combination with copper salts. The inside of the steel pipe for some distance was encrusted with sulphur and...
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