United States v. Travis, 5669.
| Decision Date | 29 December 1947 |
| Docket Number | No. 5669.,5669. |
| Citation | 165 F.2d 546 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. TRAVIS. |
John T. Casey, Atty., Department of Justice, of Washington, D. C. (Peyton Ford, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry H. Holt, Jr., U. S. Atty., of Norfolk, Va., and J. Frank
Staley, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellant.
Roy L. Sykes and R. Arthur Jett, both of Norfolk, Va., for appellee.
Before PARKER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges, and COLEMAN, District Judge.
O. T. Travis filed a libel in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the United States in which Travis sought damages for the stranding and sinking of his boat Dorothy Frances.
The District Court was given jurisdiction to hear this cause by virtue of Private Law 47, 57 Statute at Large, Part 2, Chap. 110, p. 666, under the provisions of which the United States of America had consented to be sued upon the cause of action here asserted, upon the same principles and measures of liability as in like cases in admiralty between private parties.
The District Court entered a decree holding the United States liable to Travis for the damages to the Dorothy Frances. From this decree the United States has appealed.
On February 21, 1937, the steel barge, U. S. No. 232, owned by Tar & Asphalt Transportation Company, Inc., of Baltimore, Maryland, sank in the Chesapeake Bay, south and east of Back River Beacon. On March 18, 1937, the owners of said Barge, U. S. No. 232, abandoned the barge to the United States and on the same day, the United States Lighthouse Service established a flashing light buoy near Barge, U. S. No. 232, for the purpose of marking the position of the wreck.
Under the title "Placement of markers over sunken crafts and other obstructions," 33 U.S.C.A. § 736, as amended August 16, 1937, reads:
In the present case it is conceded that there was a legal abandonment of the wreck to the Government, which had assumed the obligation of properly marking the wreck. The obligation of the Government had thereby become exclusive. See New York Marine Co. v. Mulligan, 2 Cir., 31 F.2d 532; The Plymouth, 2 Cir., 225 F. 483.
The Dorothy Frances, at the time of her sinking, was a vessel, 65 feet long, 19 feet beam and 6 feet deep, equipped with a 45 h. p. semidiesel Fairbanks-Morse engine. On June 12, 1937, the Dorothy Frances, in command of her owner, Travis, left Sharpe's Wharf on the Rappahannock River with a cargo of oyster shells and followed a southerly course in the Chesapeake Bay. After...
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Somerset Seafood Co. v. United States
...torts allegedly committed by United States agents or agencies, including maritime torts as instanced by the case of United States v. Travis in this Circuit, 165 F.2d 546, 547. Even more significant is what was said in American Stevedores v. Porello, 330 U.S. 446, 453, 454, 67 S.Ct. 847, 851......
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Somerset Seafood Co. v. United States
...366, 383, 70 S.Ct. 207, 94 L.Ed. 171; American Stevedores v. Porello, 330 U.S. 446, 453, 67 S.Ct. 847, 91 L.Ed. 1011; United States v. Travis, 4 Cir., 165 F.2d 546, 547. We find no merit in the contention that the United States is relieved of liability by virtue of §§ 1346(b) and 2674 of th......
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Chute v. U.S.
...duty to mark or remove a wreck. See, e. g., Somerset Seafood Co. v. United States, 193 F.2d 631, 635 (4th Cir. 1951); United States v. Travis, 165 F.2d 546 (4th Cir. 1947); Jones Towing v. United States, 277 F.Supp. 839, 848 (E.D.La.1967) (collision with wreck occurred in 1964); Wheeldon v.......
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Magno v. Corros, Civ. A. No. 75-732.
...with the waters, were not bound to notice information published in notices of the United States Lighthouse Service. United States v. Travis, 4 Cir., 165 F.2d 546, 548." Since Mr. Corros was an experienced boatman, was thoroughly familiar with the waters involved, and had navigated these wat......