Victorias Milling Co. v. Panama Canal Company

• Decision Date: 22 April 1955
• Docket Number: No. 4129.,4129.
• Citation: 162 F. Supp. 185
• Parties: VICTORIAS MILLING CO., Inc., as owners of THE M/V NONSUCO, Libelant, v. PANAMA CANAL COMPANY, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Panama Canal Zone

162 F. Supp. 185

VICTORIAS MILLING CO., Inc., as owners of THE M/V NONSUCO, Libelant, v. PANAMA CANAL COMPANY, Respondent.

No. 4129.

District Court, Canal Zone, Division Balboa.

April 22, 1955.

Woodrow de Castro, Balboa, C. Z., and Michael E. Hanrahan, New York City, for libelant.

David J. Markun and Theodore P. Daly, of the General Counsel's Office, Panama Canal Co., Balboa Heights, C. Z., for respondent.

CROWE, District Judge.

1. The M/V Nonsuco is a twin-screw motor cargo vessel of Philippine registry. It has a gross tonnage of 5212, a net tonnage of 3084, an overall length of 439', and a beam of 56.1'. The authorized maximum mean draft of the Nonsuco in tropical fresh-water is 26' 7¼". The vessel's draft on August 15, 1954 in the fresh water of the Panama Canal was 24' 1" forward and 27' 9" aft. The vessel was built in 1938 by William Doxford and Sons, Ltd., Sunderland.

2. The parties prior to trial stipulated as to the admissibility of the transcript of the testimony taken before the Board of Local Inspectors of the Canal Zone Government on August 17, 1954. The Board of Local Inspectors is charged by law with the investigation of marine casualties occurring in the waters of the Canal Zone. 35 C.F.R. 12.6.

3. On August 15, 1954, at 0733 hours the Nonsuco departed Balboa commencing a northbound transit of the Panama Canal. Captain Fred M. Weade, Panama Canal Pilot, had been assigned by the respondent Panama Canal Company as Pilot for the transit and he was in control of the navigation of the vessel through the Panama Canal. Pilot Weade, at the time of transit, had been a Panama Canal Pilot for almost five years. Captain Weade had first gone to sea in 1929 and was licensed master of ocean-going vessels. He had been a master of tugs in the Panama Canal for approximately seven years before becoming a Pilot.

4. The Nonsuco was equipped with neither a rudder-angle indicator nor revolution indicators. Thus, the Pilot had no way of determining whether his orders to the engines and rudder were promptly and properly carried out.

5. The Nonsuco proceeded from Balboa through Miraflores Locks and Pedro Miguel Locks and through the narrow Gaillard Cut which has, in certain "reaches", a channel width of 300 feet. When the Nonsuco entered Mamei Curve she was proceeding at an engine speed of "full ahead", or 7 or 8 knots, along the centerline of the channel. The vessel had handled satisfactorily up to this point and the transit had been without incident. The channel in Mamei Curve is approximately 750 to 800 feet wide, and the sailing line followed by vessels (except in meeting situations) coincides with the centerline of the Channel. A vessel proceeding northbound from Mamei Curve into San Pablo Reach is required to execute a turn of approximately 50 degrees to the right. The channel depths, according to the Panama Canal Annual Survey Chart of July 1, 1954, in Mamei Curve and San Pablo Reach vary typically from 44.3 to 57 feet. According to the Chief of the Hydrographic Section of the Panama Canal Company, the depth of water on the day of the accident was slightly greater then the depths indicated on the chart. Pilot Weade commenced the turn from Mamei into San Pablo Reach with right rudder which he ordered at the customary point for beginning the execution of the turn. To the right of a northbound vessel in Mamei Curve are three small islands outside the channel line. Beyond, and between the islands, and on either side of the channel at the junction of Mamei Curve and San Pablo Reach, there is considerable open water. At the point in San Pablo Reach where a northbound vessel will ordinarily line up on the Northbound Sailing Line after completing the turn, the point of one of these small islands lies approximately 25 to 50 feet outside the prism line. Some slight "bank suction" from the island may be experienced at this point by a vessel such as the Nonsuco, but the effect does not last long since the island is small and whatever effect is felt is lost as soon as the island is passed. A vessel transiting northbound in San Pablo Reach normally follows the "Northbound Sailing Line", offset approximately 100 feet to the East of the axis or centerline of the channel. There is a "Southbound Sailing Line" similarly offset to the West of the axis. The Nonsuco had completed the turn from Mamei into San Pablo Reach and was swinging slowly to the right when Captain Weade ordered the helmsman to check the swing and to steady on the Northbound Sailing Line. The starboard side of the vessel was, at the time this order was given, approximately 250 feet from the right hand channel boundary, just abeam, and approximately 300 feet from, the point of the small island which lies just outside the channel. The helmsman, in response to the Pilot's order to check the right turn and steady on the Northbound Sailing Line, applied left rudder. The vessel's swing to the right was checked and then the vessel commenced swinging slowly to the left. The pilot ordered "steady" and then "half right" rudder. The swing to the left was not checked. As soon as the Pilot observed that the swing to the left was not checked, he ordered "hard right" rudder but the swing continued. These rudder orders normally should have checked the swing. He immediately ordered "full astern" on the starboard engine. The usual effect of going "full astern" on the starboard engine of a twin-screw vessel while continuing "full ahead" on the port engine is to provide a powerful combination of forces tending to swing the vessel's heading to the right. It is a maneuver commonly used on twin screw vessels to effect a change in heading when response to rudder alone is not adequate. The Pilot observed no improvement in the heading of the bow following the order "full astern starboard engine." The Master of the vessel, who had been absent from the bridge for some time previous to the entry of the vessel into Mamei Curve, arrived on the bridge almost immediately after the "full astern starboard engine" order was given. The Pilot informed the Master that the vessel's engines were not answering, and taking him to the starboard wing of the bridge indicated to him that there was not the anticipated turbulence of water from the starboard propeller. The bridge telegraph indicated that the order had been received in the engine room. The Master himself went to the telegraph and rang "full astern" on the starboard engine three times. (It must have been the "full astern starboard engine" order which the Master was informed of and then repeated on the telegraph, inasmuch as the Master was on the bridge at the time the order "full astern both engines" was given and there would have been no need of the Pilot to have informed the Master of that order). The sheer to port continued and the Pilot ordered "stop both engines," "drop both anchors", and "full astern on both engines" in rapid sequence. There was no noticeable improvement of the attitude of the vessel following the orders to the engines or rudder. The vessel struck the West Bank making approximately 2 knots. The distance over the ground from the point where Captain Weade had ordered "full astern starboard engine" and the point where the vessel struck was approximately 1,900 to 2,000 feet. The Pilot and the Master went to the steering engine room very soon after the striking and observed that the rudder was "hard right", a position coinciding with the last previous rudder order given. In the absence of a rudder-angle indicator, however, the Pilot had no means of determining the time when the...