THE VELMA LYKES
| Citation | 6 F. Supp. 886 |
| Decision Date | 03 April 1934 |
| Docket Number | No. 267.,267. |
| Parties | THE VELMA LYKES. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas |
Fulbright, Crooker & Freeman, Carl G. Stearns, and T. S. Taliaferro, all of Houston, Tex., for libelant.
Royston & Rayzor, of Houston, Tex., for respondents.
This is a suit in admiralty by libelant, in rem against the S. S. Velma Lykes, and in personam against her owners Lykes Bros. Steamship Company, Inc., to recover for the loss in part and damage in part of 125 drums and 210 cases of salad oil, delivered by libelant to respondents on board the S. S. Velma Lykes on or about October 29, 1932, at Houston, Tex., for transportation on such steamship, under bill of lading hereinafter set forth, to the port of Cristobal, Canal Zone.
(a) It is stipulated that libelant was the owner of the goods shipped, at the time of their loss or injury, and is the proper party to maintain this suit. Also that it has complied with the provisions of the bill of lading as to giving notice of its claim, and that: "if the libelant is entitled to recover herein, it is so entitled to recover the sum of Fifteen Hundred Seventy-nine and 60/100 Dollars ($1,579.60), together with any interest which the Court may see fit to allow."
(b) The bill of lading, prepared by libelant on printed forms for that purpose, is a "Clean Bill of Lading" of the kind discussed in The Delaware, 14 Wall. (81 U. S.) 602, 20 L. Ed. 779, and by this court in The Southlands, 27 F.(2d) 1010. It contained certain exceptions hereinafter quoted and discussed.
(c) Libelant's cargo was stowed by respondents in the bridge deck space (sometimes referred to by the witnesses as the shelter deck space) of the Velma Lykes. Such space is between the bridge deck and the main deck, and is a fully covered extension of the sides or walls of the ship above the center of her main deck, its width being approximately the same as that of the ship, and its length being approximately one-third of that of the ship. The construction of the four sides and top which inclose such space is substantially the same as the sides of the ship below the main deck, except that the plating is much thinner than the plating below the main deck.1 Such space has four doors, two fore and two aft. Along the ends of the doors are sets of "dogs" about four inches apart, with screws and knuckles so that, when the doors are closed, the "dogs" are automatically brought down and tightened up. Inside the doors are rubber gaskets. There are also three openings or hatches from this space up onto the bridge deck, one on the starboard side, one on the port side, and one forward. These openings or hatches are secured by waterproof tarpaulins and by wedges which are driven into cleats on the sides to prevent the tarpaulins from being blown or washed off.
Except that it perhaps requires more care in the stowage of cargo in this space, because more affected by the motion of the ship in storms than space below the main deck, I have been able to discover, from the evidence, no substantial or material difference between this space and the space under or below the main deck, and find that it was as safe place for the stowing and carriage of libelant's cargo in hurricane or in ordinary weather as space under or below the main deck, and respondents were not negligent in stowing and carrying it there.
Further, the loss or injury to libelant's cargo was not due to the fact that it was carried there instead of under or below the main deck.
(d) There was customarily carried by the Velma Lykes, and carried on this voyage, in her bridge deck space some extra equipment (a winch and other equipment). The evidence does not show respondents to have been negligent in carrying this extra equipment in such space either in hurricane or ordinary weather.
(e) The evidence shows that, before sailing from Houston, this extra equipment, libelant's cargo, and other cargo in the bridge deck space, were stowed, lashed, and secured therein in a careful and prudent manner, and I find respondents were not negligent in that respect. This was likewise true of cargo in other parts of the ship.
(f) Shortly before the steamship sailed from Houston, a warning from the United States Weather Bureau was received by respondents, indicating a storm at sea of no great intensity some 2,000 to 3,000 miles southeast of Houston, but with nothing to indicate its probable course. Had it, however, been definitely known at the time the steamship sailed that it would encounter (as it did) a hurricane, the extra equipment in the bridge deck space, libelant's cargo, and the other cargo in such space, and elsewhere in the ship, could not, according to the evidence here, have reasonably been made more secure or safer than they were. I find respondents were not negligent in sailing when they did, nor in the manner of stowing and securing such extra equipment and all such cargo, either in contemplation of hurricane or ordinary weather.
(g) The steamship sailed from Houston, October 31, 1932, properly and efficiently manned, equipped, and appareled, her extra equipment and cargo carefully and securely stowed and safeguarded, and she was in seaworthy condition in every respect. She would doubtless have had a safe voyage but for a hurricane. Without reviewing all the evidence, the story of the voyage is so well told by log of the steamship that I quote therefrom, calling attention to the record of the position of the ship, the wind velocity, the action of the ship, and injury thereto, and to its cargo, and particularly to the remarkable record of the action (italicized) of the ship's barometer, showing the seriousness of the storm:
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