The Maggie Smith the Maggie Smith v. Walker Walker v. Dun
| Decision Date | 21 November 1887 |
| Citation | 8 S.Ct. 159,123 U.S. 349,31 L.Ed. 175 |
| Parties | THE MAGGIE J. SMITH. THE MAGGIE J. SMITH and others, Claimants, v. WALKER and others. WALKER and others v. DUN and others |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This case comes before us from the circuit court of the United States for the district of Maryland. It is a libel against the vessel Maggie J. Smith for damages caused by her collision with the schooner Enoch Robinson, which resulted in sinking the latter, and in the entire loss of both vessel and cargo. The libelants are the owners of the Enoch Robinson. The petitioners are the owners of the property on board, who have intervened for their interest. The claims of libelants and petitioners exceeded the value of the Maggie J. Smith and her freight, and thereupon the owners of that vessel instituted proceedings for the benefit of the limited liability provisions of Rev. St. §§ 4283-4289, under which the value of the vessel was appraised at $32,000, to which amount their liability was accordingly limited. A stipulation for that amount was thereupon given by sufficient sureties, with the condition that the claimants would perform the final order and decree in the case, or that execution might issue against the goods, lands, and tenements of the stipulators wherever found.
On the trial before the district court a decree was entered for the claimants, and the libel dismissed. On appeal, the circuit court reversed the decree, and adjudged that the libelants and petitioners were entitled to recover certain specified sums, which, in the aggregate, exceeded the $32,000; that the stipulators should pay that amount into the registry of the court, and that the clerk, after deducting the costs of the circuit and district courts, should pay the balance to the libelants and petitioners pro rata; that is, in proportion to their respective claims as allowed. From this decree the claimants have appealed to this court. Subsequently the libelants and petitioners applied to the circuit court for a further decree, directing the claimants to pay interest on the amount of the stipulation from its date, and the costs of the district and circuit courts, but the application was refused. From this refusal they have appealed to this court.
Robert H. Smith, John H. Thomas, and W. W. MacFarland, for The Maggie Smith and others.
John Lathrop and Sebastian Brown, for Walker and others.
The circuit court having found the facts respecting the collision, our examination will first be directed to a consideration of their sufficiency to sustain the decree. The findings, under the act of February 16, 1875, have the same effect as a special verdict in an action at law. 18 St. c. 77; The Adriatic, 107 U. S. 512, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 355. The bills of exception of the claimants in the record embrace only the refusal of the court below to find certain propositions of law, which can as well be presented to the court upon the present findings.
The findings of fact, with the facts admitted by the pleadings, disclose the following case: On the evening of February 26, 1883, the Maggie J. Smith, a three-masted schooner steamer, under sail only, ran into and sunk the three-masted schooner Enoch Robinson off the coast of New Jersey. The night was clear and starlight; the wind was about north-west, and blowing a whole-sail breeze, and the sea was smooth. The Smith was on a voyage from New York to Newport News, Virginia; her course was south-west; her first mate, and her engineer, who was acting as second mate, were on deck; one man was at the wheel, and another was stationed forward on the lookout; her regulation lights were set; and she had the wind on her starboard side.
The Enoch Robinson was on a voyage from Baltimore to Providence, Rhode Island, with a cargo of coal. When the Maggie J. Smigh was first seen by those on board the Robinson, the latter vessel was on her regular course, heading north-east, and had the wind on her port. Her regulation lights were set and burning brightly; her master and second mate were on deck; a competent seaman was on the lookout forward on the top-gallant forecastle; and one was at the wheel. The court finds that when the vessels were first seen from each other, they were about two miles apart; that they were approaching each other 'end on, or nearly so, and on courses involving risk of collision;' that the wheel of the Robinson was put to port almost immediately after the position of the Smith was discovered, and that the Smith starboarded her wheel, and that this starboarding was the direct cause of the collision. The court also finds that when those in charge of the Robinson perceived that the Smith was falling off, and that the vessels were approaching in dangerous proximity, they put the wheel of the Robinson hard a-port, and let go the spanker-sheet; and that a few seconds before the collision the wheel of the Smith was first put to...
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