THE TRENTON, 15264.
| Citation | 22 F. Supp. 833 |
| Decision Date | 07 April 1938 |
| Docket Number | No. 15264.,15264. |
| Parties | THE TRENTON. In re O'BRIEN BROTHERS, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Foley & Martin, of New York City (James A. Martin and Christopher E. Heckman, of New York City, Esqs., of counsel), for petitioner.
William C. Chanler, Corp. Counsel, of New York City (Willard M. L. Robinson and John T. Condon, both of New York City, of counsel), for claimant.
The petitioner seeks limitation of and exoneration from a claim for damages occasioned by the striking of its derrick lighter Trenton against the Steeplechase pier at Coney Island on the night of December 19, 1936.
The vessel is 102 feet long and 33.5 feet in beam, and has a depth of 7.5 feet. Her displacement tonnage is 300; she is without power, and carries hoisting machinery with gear and engines.
She was moored to three anchors as follows: A stern anchor of 3½ tons, out about 1,000 feet from the jetty, and port and starboard anchors of from 1 to 1½ tons; they were lashed to a buoy by ¾ inch steel hawsers called straps, and the anchor lines on board the vessel were 7 and 6 inch hawsers, respectively, made fast to the anchor straps. It is not disputed that all the manila hawsers were new, good lines. The anchor buoys held up the straps and thus there was no chafing of the manila lines on the bottom.
The Trenton moved in and out on her stern anchor line, made fast to stone scows which were carrying stones for several jetties on Coney Island beach. The derrick and a scow came alongside the jetty and then the derrick discharged the stones to the jetty from the scow by the use of a derrick arm and chain slings.
The work had been going forward for a matter of two months or so in this way, and the stone scows were taken to and from the job by tugs which could not approach nearer than 500 feet from the beach because of their draft. When the cargo of a scow had been discharged, the derrick moved it out, using her stern anchor line under her own engine power, and at about 500 feet off shore the scow would be taken in tow by an O'Brien Brothers tug.
The work was prosecuted as the weather permitted, and it was customary to knock off at between five and six o'clock in the afternoon of weekdays except Saturdays when the quitting hour was 4:30 P.M. If conditions permitted, the work was carried forward on Sundays.
On the evening of December 18th, the Weather Bureau issued a storm warning by radio at 9:41 P.M.:
"Advisory 10 P.M.: Northeast storm warnings ordered 10 P.M. from Delaware Breakwater to Cape Hatteras, N. C. increasing northeast to east winds becoming strong with rain Saturday."
The City deems that warning important, in spite of its application to a territory not presently involved.
At 9:30 A.M. on the morning of Saturday, December 19th, the following storm warning was issued by the local Weather Bureau:
"Hoist northeast storm warnings 9:30 A. M. north of Delaware Breakwater to Boston, Mass. Disturbance over southeastern states will probably develop and move northeastward accompanied by strong northeast winds and gales with rain or snow."
Knowledge of that warning is brought home to the petitioner.
The shore line of Coney Island runs about east and west and forms a lee for vessels as against northerly and northeasterly winds.
Directly north of Steeplechase pier, Coney Island is closely built, and the testimony in the case is clearly to the effect that a northeast wind rising to the force of 30 miles an hour creates an undertow after blowing some hours, but that easterly and particularly southeasterly winds are required to create a choppy and dangerous sea.
The wind movements and average velocity on this day, according to the official reports of the Weather Bureau, were from 12 o'clock midnight until 10:00 A.M. northeasterly winds having an average hourly velocity of from 12 to 8 miles. From 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. the wind was easterly and of a 10-mile average velocity, and from 11:00 to 12:00 it was northeasterly at 12 miles, and so continued until 2:00 o'clock, dropping during the last hour to 9 miles; then it shifted into the east and there continued until 11:00 P. M. with an hourly average of 10, 15, 18, 20, 21, and rising to 24 between 8:00 and 9:00, 25 between 9:00 and 10:00, and it apparently got into the southeast at 9:42 with a velocity of 28. Between 10:00 and 11:00 it was of a velocity of 28 and still in the east, and between 11:00 and 12:00 it shifted to the southeast with a velocity of 32 rising to 38. It was during the latter hour that the Trenton's moorings parted; that is, the strap on the starboard anchor snapped, and the stern and port manila lines parted.
As a result, the lighter drifted westerly and hung up on the end of the Steeplechase pier, doing the damage for which the claim has been filed. Later apparently she freed herself and drifted onto the beach.
The claimant asserts that limitation should be denied because the petitioner has failed to establish that the striking of the pier occurred without negligence upon its part; or that the occurrence was without the knowledge or the privity of the petitioner.
These contentions render it unnecessary to discuss any question of seaworthiness of the Trenton, because the evidence is quite clearly in the affirmative...
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