The Serapis

• Decision Date: 04 December 1891
• Parties: THE SERAPIS. v. THE SERAPIS. SMITH
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

49 F. 393

THE SERAPIS.

SMITH v. THE SERAPIS.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

December 4, 1891

Syllabus by the Court

Libelant a stevedore, lost his right hand by its being caught between the cogs of a steam-winch, which the court found to be dangerous and unsafe because of the nearness of the steam-valve to the cogs, and of the absence of casing over the cogs to prevent such accidents. Libelant knew the dangerous condition of the winch, and spoke of it to the mate of the vessel, but continued during part of two days to work the winch, unloading cargo out of the steamer's hold. Held, that the fact that libelant continued to work the winch with knowledge of the danger and risk did not of itself, as matter of law, bar his recovering in admiralty, but was evidence merely of contributory b negligence on his part.

Held that, the libelant's contributory negligence being neither willful, gross, nor inexcusable, and the facts presenting a strong case for his relief, he should be decreed one-half the sum as damages which he would have recovered if he had been without fault.

J Cookman Boyd, for libelant.

Convers & Kirlin and W. Benton Crisp, for respondent, cited--

MORRIS J.

The libelant was one of a gang of stevedores employed in unloading a cargo of iron ore from the British steam-ship Serapis in the port of Baltimore. During the progress of the work he was assigned by the head stevedore to the duty of running the forward steam-winch. By the use of another winch the ore in buckets was being hoisted out of No. 2 forward hole, and the winch which libelant was attending was used to draw the crane to and from the wharf. He had to stand facing the winch, looking forward towards the bow of the ship, and was required for the proper performance of his duty to turn his head from time to time, to see the position of the bucket behind him, and to turn quickly and close or open the steam-valve by revolving a wheel in front of him with his right hand. While engaged at this work, and turning from looking back at the bucket, and having to take hold of the valve wheel, he put out his hand a little too far, and it was caught between the cogs of the driving-wheel, directly in front of him. His hand was so crushed that he has permanently lost the use of it. Three fingers have already been amputated, with the probability that the remaining one will have to be taken off, leaving him only an almost useless stump.

The libelant seeks to recover for his injury upon the ground that the winch was dangerous to any one working at it to unload the ship, and that the negligence on the part of the ship-owners in having it in this dangerous condition renders them liable in this suit. The winch is of a kind called by some of the witnesses a 'camel-back winch.' The steam is controlled by a valve near the deck at the feet of the winchman, from which a valve-stem rises about three feet directly in front of him, on which is a wheel by which it is turned. As the winchman stands facing the winch, with his left hand on the reversing bar and his right hand on the wheel, the cogs of two wheels which drive the axle meet in front of his right hand. The distance between the circumference of the wheel and the nearest point of the cogs is differently stated by the witnesses. The libelant says that it was seven or eight inches, and several other witnesses called by him say it was from five to six inches. The testimony of the master of the ship is that the intersection of the cogs is 12 inches from the wheel, but he leaves it uncertain from what points his measurement was taken. The contention on behalf of the libelant is that the valve-wheel was nearer to the cogs than is usual in such winches, and that usually there is a covering or casing over the cogs to protect the winchman from accidents. There were not witnesses examined as to the construction of the winch other than the stevedores called by the libelant, and master and mate examined on behalf of the owners. The stevedores, who were all men of long experience, say that of such winches they have never seen one without a casing or cover over the cog-wheels; and some say that in other winches of this kind they have always found the valve-wheel higher, and at a greater distance from the cogs. The libelant says he had worked at a hundred different winches on steam-ships, and that in all others the wheel was further from the cogs. He testifies as follows:

'I thought it was a queer apparatus. I said to the mate, 'You ought to have something over the cog-wheels.' The mate said to me, 'You be a little careful, and it will be all right.' I thought it looked dangerous to run, and thought if I spoke of it to the mater he would put something over the cog-wheels.'

The libelant first ran the winch for four hours in the night-time, and the next day had run it for an hour and a half when his hand was caught. He testifies that he could not keep his hand on the valve-wheel and turn his head so as to see the tubs; that he was drawing in the slack chain by reversing the winch, and had turned to watch the tub, and was turning back to the winch to stop off the steam quickly, when, in placing his hand upon the wheel, he put it out a little too far, and it was caught. Another stevedore,-- Tracy,-- who was also running this winch the night before the accident, testifies that the mitten on his hand was caught in the same way, and taken off his hand. That he mentioned this to the donkey-engine man, in charge, and told him that it ought to have a cover on it; but the man only said, 'Be careful.'

From the testimony produced in this case I am unable to come to any other conclusion than that this winch was dangerous, and not proper to be furnished for work in which it had to be run continuously for hours by a workman who has to turn to see what is going on behind him, and has to start and stop it with great quickness. There is no testimony from which it can be inferred that the libelant was careless. Indeed, with the large open cogs undefended by any safeguard so...