THE IRVING
| Decision Date | 23 June 1936 |
| Docket Number | No. 14128,14576.,14128 |
| Citation | 16 F. Supp. 22 |
| Parties | THE IRVING. THE SEATRAIN HAVANA. CONNERS MARINE CO., Inc., v. MANHATTAN LIGHTERAGE CORPORATION. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Thomas A. McDonald, of New York City, for Conners Marine Co., Inc.
Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, of New York City (H. H. Ramm, of New York City, of counsel), for American Molasses Co. of New York.
Kirlin, Campbell, Hickox, Keating & McGrann, of New York City (E. S. Murphy, of New York City, of counsel), for Seatrain Lines, Inc.
Burlingham, Veeder, Clark & Hupper, of New York City (John L. Galey and Stanley R. Wright, both of New York City, of counsel), for Manhattan Lighterage Corporation.
On stipulation the two above-entitled suits were consolidated for the purpose of trial only, separate decrees to be entered, and one opinion will suffice.
In the second above-entitled action the Manhattan Lighterage Corporation was on the petition of Seatrain Lines, Inc., impleaded under the 56th Rule in Admiralty (28 U.S.C.A. following section 723); and the lighter Irving and Conners Marine Company, Inc., were on the petition of Manhattan Lighterage Corporation impleaded under the 56th Rule in Admiralty.
At all the times hereinafter mentioned and at the time of the trial Conners Marine Co., Inc., the libelant in the first above-entitled suit, and respondent-impleaded in the second above-entitled suit, was a domestic corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of New York.
At all the times hereinafter mentioned and at the time of the trial, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation, the respondent in the first above-entitled suit, and a respondent-impleaded in the second above-entitled suit, was a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of New York, with an office and place of business at 17 Battery Place, N. Y., and has no place of business or residence within this district and within the jurisdiction of this court, but has certain property consisting of floating equipment, chattels, and goods, and/or various other credits within this District and the jurisdiction of this court.
At all the times hereinafter mentioned and prior to the time of the said chartering of the said lighter Irving to said Manhattan Lighterage Corporation she was owned by the said Conners Marine Co., Inc.
At all the times hereinafter mentioned and at the time of the trial, American Molasses Company of New York, the libelant in the second entitled suit, was a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of New York, with an office for the transaction of business at No. 111 Wall street, city of New York.
At all the times hereinafter mentioned and at the time of the trial Seatrain Lines, Inc., the respondent in the second above-entitled suit, was a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Delaware, with an office for the transaction of business at 39 Broadway, city of New York, and was at said times the owner of the steamship Seatrain Havana, and engaged as a common carrier in interstate commerce shipments and transportation by water between, among other places, the state of Louisiana and the state of New York.
During the currency of process hereunder the lighter Irving was within this District and within the jurisdiction of this court.
On the 7th day of December, 1933, the libelant in the first above-entitled suit, Conners Marine Co., Inc., chartered and hired to the respondent in such suit, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation, the lighter Irving at a rate of $12 per day for a period commencing December 8, 1933, and continuing until the lighter was returned to the libelant in the towing limits of New York Harbor, at a place designated by the libelant, in the same condition as when received, less ordinary wear and tear, pursuant to an oral charter agreement, confirmed by the said libelant in writing.
Pursuant to the said charter the libelant aforesaid, Conners Marine Co., Inc., delivered the lighter Irving to the respondent, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation, on the 8th day of December, 1933, and said lighter remained in the care, custody, and under the direction and control of the said respondent from that time until on or about January 3, 1934, when the said lighter was returned by the said respondent, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation to the said libelant, Conners Marine Co., Inc.
When the said lighter Irving was returned by said respondent, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation, to the said libelant, Conners Marine Co., Inc., it was not in the same condition as when received, but was damaged and broken, and that such damage was not the result of ordinary wear and tear.
On the 20th day of December, 1933, the respondent in the second above-entitled suit, Seatrain Lines, Inc., as a common carrier, as hereinbefore described, received from the American Molasses Company of Louisiana, at Belle Chasse, La., 1,958 barrels of molasses in good order and condition and accepted the same for transportation on the steamship Seatrain Havana, and agreed to transport the same, from Belle Chasse, La., to New York, there to be delivered in like good order and condition as when received, to American Molasses Company of New York, the libelant in the second above-entitled suit, to whom said goods were consigned, in consideration of the agreement that the usual freight rates for the transportation of such goods between such places be paid to said respondent, collect upon arrival of the said goods at destination, and the said respondent thereupon issued two bills of lading, one for 1,542 barrels of molasses, and the other for 416 barrels of molasses, in each of which bills of lading the receipt of the goods therein referred to was acknowledged in apparent good order, and the said respondent agreed to carry the same as aforesaid. The said barrels of molasses were thereafter laden on the steamship Seatrain Havana, and the said steamship sailed for the port of New York.
Certain of the aforesaid barrels of molasses were not delivered to the said libelant, American Molasses Company of New York in New York, in the like good order and condition in which the same were received by the said respondent, nor in which they were laden on the steamship Seatrain Havana.
A claim in writing for the said loss and damage to said barrels of molasses was duly filed by the said libelant with the said respondent within nine months after delivery of such part of the said barrels of molasses as were delivered to the said libelant, to wit, on the 16th day of March, 1934.
On July 20, 1933, the said respondent, Seatrain Lines, Inc., and respondent-impleaded, Manhattan Lighterage Corporation, entered into a contract whereby said Manhattan Lighterage Corporation agreed to render the service of lighterage of general and special cargo from the piers of Seatrain Lines, Inc., in New York Harbor to points within the lighterage limits of New York Harbor, and from points within the lighterage limits of New York Harbor to the piers of Seatrain Lines, Inc., in New York Harbor, at certain rates specified therein for general and special cargo.
Pursuant to the provisions of the said contract, Seatrain Lines, Inc., notified Manhattan Lighterage Corporation of the arrival at New York of a shipment of barrels said to contain molasses carried by S. S. Seatrain Havana, from Belle Chasse, La., to New York as aforesaid, and requested Manhattan Lighterage Corporation to perform the lighterage of said cargo from the terminal of Seatrain Lines, Inc., at Hoboken, N. J., to Erie Basin, Brooklyn, N. Y., and there deliver the same to American Molasses Company of New York in accordance with said lighterage contract, and Manhattan Lighterage Corporation undertook to perform the said lighterage and delivery under the terms of said lighterage contract.
On December 28 and 29, 1933, Seatrain Lines, Inc., delivered the said shipment to Manhattan Lighterage Corporation at the pier of Seatrain Lines, Inc., at Hoboken, N. J., and Manhattan Lighterage Corporation received the same and loaded a quantity of said barrels of molasses, all in apparent good order and condition, on the lighter Irving. Thereafter the said lighter Irving proceeded from the terminal of Seatrain Lines, Inc., at Hoboken, N. J., to Erie Basin, Brooklyn, N. Y., but that said barrels of molasses were not delivered to said American Molasses Company of New York, in like apparent good order and condition as when received from Seatrain Lines, Inc.
The letter of November 20, 1931, from said Manhattan Lighterage Corporation to said Conners Marine Co., Inc., did not form part of the charter in question of the lighter Irving of December 8, 1933. The said Conners Marine Co., Inc., had in writing prior to that time refused to accept the limitations of that letter, and the subsequent course of conduct, and the confirmations of many charters between November 20, 1931, and December 8, 1933, clearly show that such letter of November 20, 1931, formed no part of the charter of December 7, 1933.
The lighter Irving was in the repair yard in the spring of 1933, when she was searched and caulked, and again in October, 1933, less than two months before the charter in question began, she was at the repair yard, and was given an examination by the captain and the carpenter foreman, but at neither of those times was she hauled out on dry dock, but the caulking of the bottom was in good condition even after capsizing.
The lighter Irving had been under charter to Manhattan Lighterage Corporation in October and had no difficulty in carrying her cargoes.
From April, 1933, up to the time of the charter in question the Irving had carried copper, cement, general cargo.
No trouble was caused by the boat leaking.
The first load carried when the Irving went on charter to Manhattan Lighterage Corporation in October, 1933, was cocoa beans, of which she carried 6,400 bags, then a...
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