Williams v. The SS Richard De Larrinaga
| Decision Date | 25 February 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 8204.,8204. |
| Citation | 287 F.2d 732 |
| Parties | Richard WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. THE SS RICHARD DE LARRINAGA, her boats, tackle, etc., in rem, and Larrinaga Steamship Company, Ltd., as owners, agents, etc., in personam, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Sidney H. Kelsey, Norfolk, Va., for appellant.
Charles R. Dalton, Jr., Norfolk, Va. (Seawell, McCoy, Winston & Dalton, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellees.
Before SOBELOFF, Chief Judge, and HAYNSWORTH and BOREMAN, Circuit Judges.
Richard Williams appeals from a final decree of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissing his libel for personal injuries brought in rem against the SS Richard de Larrinaga, and in personam against the owner, Larrinaga Steamship Company, Ltd. The District Court found no evidence of unseaworthiness or of negligence and, in an opinion containing findings and conclusions, carefully analyzed and weighed the testimony of the several witnesses.1 We find no error requiring reversal.
Williams, a longshoreman, was injured aboard the SS Richard de Larrinaga on January 23, 1958, while attempting to raise a hatch cover section on the No. 4 hold when the vessel was berthed at a grain elevator in South Norfolk, Virginia. The No. 4 hold is covered with three heavy metal hatch cover sections which, with their appurtenances, are known and designated as "MacGregor" devices. Each section is equipped with four eccentric wheels, one at each of the four corners thereof in a position directly above a track running along the hatch coaming. When the hatch covers are closed, the wheels are in a raised position slightly above and not in contact with the tracks, and the covers rest snugly upon the coaming. When the eccentric wheels are turned on their off-center axles, they descend onto the track, raising the cover sections to which attached. The sections are then rolled along the coaming tracks and, with the aid of winches, are stacked in a vertical position at the forward end of the hatchway.
A more detailed description of the eccentric wheels and their operation may be enlightening. The wheels are affixed to off-center axles so that when the wheels are raised and the cover sections lowered, the axle is closer to the track than the true center of the wheel. Conversely, when the wheel is turned on the off-center axle, the axle assumes a position perpendicular to the tracks and farther from them than the true center of the wheel, causing the cover sections to be elevated. When the sections are down and closed, a metal pin is inserted through a mounting, or bushing, on the face of the wheel and through a perforation in the axle to lock the wheel in place. To raise the cover sections, the locking pin is removed and a lever bar is inserted through the left side of the wheel in an open slot across the mounting on the face of the wheel in a position parallel to the coaming track; the lever is then turned clockwise 180° until it is parallel with the track on the right side of the wheel, the hatch cover section is thereby raised approximately one and one-half inches and the wheel itself is balanced in pivot on its axle. The metal safety pin may then be reinserted through the mounting and the axle to lock the wheel in its elevated position, and the lever bar may be removed, leaving the wheels free to roll on the tracks and the sections free to be moved. The greatest force or pressure necessary to turn the wheel exists when the lever bar is in a position vertical to the track. When the wheel has been turned clockwise and to a balanced position, only a slight degree of pressure on the lever bar is required to so hold it and often the lever must be lightly manipulated and adjusted at this point so as to permit the safety pin to be inserted through both the wheel mounting and the axle perforation.
At the time Williams was injured, he had turned one of the eccentric wheels on one of the No. 4 hold hatch cover sections into position to raise that corner of the section. While attempting to remove the lever...
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