The Nevada v. Quick

• Citation: 106 U.S. 154,27 L.Ed. 149,1 S.Ct. 234
• Parties: THE NEVADA v. QUICK and others
• Decision Date: 27 November 1882
• Court: United States Supreme Court

106 U.S. 154

1 S.Ct. 234

27 L.Ed. 149

THE NEVADA v. QUICK and others.

November 27, 1882.

S. P. Nash, for appellants.

R. D. Benedict, for libelants.

BRADLEY, J.

This case arises upon a libel filed in the district court for the southern district of New York by S. J. Quick, master and owner of the canal-boat Kate Green, for himself and for F. A. McKnight, against the steam-ship Nevada in a cause of collision. The libel alleges that McKnight was invested by subrogation, or otherwise, with the interest of the Western Insurance Company of Buffalo, who were insurers of 8,100 bushels of corn, the cargo of the Kate Green at the time of the collision; that on the twenty-seventh of September, 1871, while the boat was lying securely fastened in a slip in New York city, between piers No. 46 and No. 46 and No. 47 on the North river, the Nevada, which had been moored in the same slip on the north side of pier No. 46, proceeded on her way to sea, and carelessly and negligently ran into and struck the Kate Green with her propeller, causing her to sink, whereby she was greatly injured and the cargo was destroyed, resulting in a total damage of $12,000. The Liverpool & Great Western Steam Company appeared as claimants of the Nevada, and answered the libel, setting up that the collision was occasioned solely by the carelessness and negligence of the master and crew of the Kate Green. McKnight filed a petition for leave to intervene, setting forth his interest in the cargo, to-wit, that it had been insured by the Western Insurance Company, which became liable for and paid the full value thereof to the owners, and afterwards became bankrupt, and at the sale of its assets, he, McKnight, became the purchaser of its claims arising from the loss and destruction of said cargo. He was allowed to intervene accordingly. Proofs being taken, a decree was made by the district court that the libelants recover their damages and costs against the Nevada, and it was referred to a commissioner to ascertain the amount of damage. The commissioner reported that the damage done to the Kate Green, her furniture, loss of freight, and interest, amounted to $4,289.72; and that the damage to the cargo, with interest, was $8,109.64. A decree was made for these sums with costs. Upon appeal to the circuit court this decree was affirmed, and a new decree was entered (including interest to the date of the decree) in favor of Quick for the sum of $4,577.65, besides costs; and in favor of McKnight for the sum of $8,653.98, besides his costs. The owners of the Nevada have appealed from this decree. So far as relates to Quick, the owner of the Kate Green, under the recent ruling of this court in the case of Ex parte Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. ante, 35, the appeal must be dismissed; as to McKnight, it is necessary to examine the case at large.

The circuit court found the facts in detail, of which it is sufficient to state, that about 3 o'clock P. M., September 27, 1871, the propeller steamship Nevada, belonging to one of the regular lines between New York and Liverpool, was lying alongside of pier No. 46, in the slip between that pier and pier No. 47, on the North river, New York, about to start on her voyage to Liverpool. She had been advertised to start at that hour, had rung her bells and blown her whistle several times, and her signals for starting were flying at mast-head. At that instant, before her screw was put in motion, a steam-tug entered the slip with the canal-boat Kate Green in tow, and placed her alongside of another canal-boat, the C. H. Hart, lying fastened to a grain elevator, which was in turn fastened to the steam-ship Scotia, lying alongside pier No. 47, on the north side of the slip. The master and steersman of the Kate Green, which lay about 60 feet from the Nevada, instantly made her fast to the Hart, and at that moment the propeller of the Nevada began to revolve, and produced a suction and commotion of the water which caused the C. H. Hart to break her fastenings, and the Kate Green to swing around under the stern of the Nevada, where she was struck by the propeller and sunk, and much injured, and her cargo was lost. She was not seen from the Nevada when she came in, and no special notice was given to her that the Nevada was about to leave, and those in charge of her had no actual knowledge of the fact until the propeller of the Nevada began to move. As soon as she began to swing around her master called loudly to the Nevada to stop her propeller, but he was not heard, or, if heard, not heeded. The court further found as follows:

'(10) No one board of the Nevada knew of the parting of the Hart's lines, or of the swinging of the Green, or of the accident, until after they arrived in Liverpool. If a man had looked from her deck over her side into the slip, he could not have failed to see what was going on all the time, from the first movement of the propeller, and before, until she got out.

'(11) There was an abundance of time after the breaking of the fastenings of the Hart, and after the Green began to swing, and after the hail of her master, to have stopped the propeller, before the collision.

'(12) The report of the commissioner as to the damages is warranted by the evidence, and the libelant McKnight was the owner of the claim for damages when the libel was filed.'

The conclusions of law found by the circuit court were as...