The British Ship Loch Carve
The British Ship Loch Carve
Opinion of the Court
On the 1th day of March, 1907, after daylight, the British ship Loch Garve, libellee, carrying a cargo of saltpeter destined for the port of Honolulu, sailed ashore on the southerly side of Molokai where she lay until the evening of March 7th, when she was floated, the steam schooner Likelike and the steam tug Intrepid pulling on her at the time by attached hawsers. The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, Limited,- — -which for brevity will be referred to as the Inter-Island, during the period the libellee was aground attempted to float her by means of as many as five vessels of its coasting fleet, some of them coming and going and returning; the Intrepid, owned by J. D. Spreckels & Bros. Company, — hereinafter referred to as Spreckels, also having assisted during part
The Inter-Island and Spreckels filed their libels in rem for compensation and stipulated that their cases should be tried together. The Inter-Island contended that its five vessels which came to the assistance of the libellee all took part in the salvage operations, and that to them mainly was due the expeditious and successful removal of the Loch Carve from the reef to the port of Honolulu in safety without injury to the ship or cargo; that the operations were attended with great peril to the said salving vessels and with danger and hardship to the crews thereof, involving great skill and experience; that such operations were participated in by the Hnited States ship Manning and the said tug Intrepid to a slight degree. Spreckels, the owner of the Intrepid, claims its assistance to have been most important; that its,vessel promptly proceeded from Honolulu to the scene of the stranding and stood by until requested to assist by the master of the libellee, and thereupon, with difficulty and danger, made fast and put on a strain, keeping it up until the libellee was floated; that a large part of the merit of the rescue was due to her. The master of the Loch Carve, appearing as bailee of the ship, cargo and freight money, opposed these contentions and alleged that the libellee was ashore in smooth water on a sheltered coast in no special danger to the ship or cargo, and that her salvage was due mainly to the Hnited States ship Manning.
I find the following facts to be satisfactorily proved: The locality of the grounding of the libellee was near the harbor of Kamalo, which is situated on the south side of the Island of Molokai, in a position which is protected during the prevalence of the northeast trades; that at the time the libellee was aground the weather was variable, the wind being northeasterly at the beginning and on the night of the 6th of March, when four vessels were attempting to float her at high tide, it was blowing with rain squalls from the northwest and west and at times during such period it was blowing from a southerly direction.
I find that on tbe night of tbe 6th and tbe early morning o'f the 7th, up to 2 a. m., tbe Iwalani, Likelike.and Olaudine were pulling bard on the libellee during the pelfed of high-tide of
Much testimony was adduced in regard to the work of the Likelike and the Intrepid through the remaining period before the libellee floated. It is in evidence that they slackened the speed of their engines as it was most unlikely that they could pull her off when the four vessels at high tide could not do so. I consider, however, that after the work of the crew of the Likelike in removing cargo from the libellee, these two vessels would have done well, from the fact that the libellee was somewhat lightened, to have put their engines again at full speed during the late afternoon of the 7th.
The Manning arrived on the scene of the operations during the 7th and made fast to the libellee and began to pull a little after noon. She was unable to obtain a very good position and anchored off the p$Ft quarter of - the libellee and pulled from a
■ I cannot help attributing the success of the operations on the 7th largely to the removal of the cargo from the libellee by the Likelike’s crew, which lightened her somewhat, — a foot and seven inches as already shown. This, with the side pull of the Manning which evidently enlarged the bed in which the libellee was lying, and the fortunate parting of the Manning’s hawser at the right moment, together with the following pull at full speed by the Likelike and Intrepid, were the immediate agencies that floated her.
In estimating the comparative value of the assistance of the several salvors, the work of the different vessels of the Inter-
“ There is no pretense that the Matteawan at any time ever abandoned its efforts to relieve the Flottbek, and it must be kept in mind that her services in going to the Flottbek and in leaving that ship to signal for aid were performed at the special request of the Flottbek.” The Flottbek, supra.
The Matteawan’s signals brought assistance. One of the tugs which came to the aid of the Flottbek was not able to accomplish anything by reason of her machinery becoming disabled in heavy seas, but compensation was considered as due on her account, her assistance having been requested by the Flottbek, and she having made a brave attempt to give it, and having suffered injury in so doing. The Kinau was a volunteer, accomplished nothing and abandoned her attempt. Compensation is not awarded, in the absence of an engagement, for mere good intentions. Neither does The Strathnevis, 76 Fed. Rep. 855, 862, also cited by counsel for the Inter-Island on this point, apply; the salving vessel in that case having “contributed towards the success of a salvage service finally completed by others.”
The Inter-Island is entitled to some compensation on account of the services of the Mauna Loa as found above; but her service in pulling on the libellee must be discounted on account of her abandonment of the attempt before any other vessel had made fast to save whatever good results she may have accom
The work of the Iwalani was important, although its value cannot be definitely ascertained. It was obviously the right thing to do to put a strain on the libellee and keep it up to prevent her, at any rate, from moving further on. Her service lasted about twenty-four hours, a part of it being on the night of the 6th when, with the other three vessels mentioned, she made the unsuccessful but very creditable attempt to pull off the libellee under circumstances of hardship and danger. The work of the boat’s crew of the Iwalani, in getting the four and a half inch wire hawser from libellee to the Iwalani, is entitled to consideration in estimating compensation, their hands, as testified to by Captain Piltz, being badly torn in the operation.
The work of the Likelike, already referred to, was most important, and in its several services, i. e., its pulling on the libellee from the evening of the 6th to the evening of the 7th, when the latter was floated, its work of taking cargo out of the libellee on the afternoon of the 7th, and its towing of the libellee to Honolulu after she was floated off, must be prominently considered in the estimate of compensation.
It is to be regretted that the Intrepid did not make fast to the libellee promptly upon her arrival at Kamalo on the evening of the 6th instead of waiting until midnight when the tide was falling. This delay was due to the failure of its master and Captain Richie of the'libellee to agree upon terms of compensation. Captain Ollson offered to take hold for ten thousand dollars or upon such terms as might be reached by the owners afterwards. Shortly before midnight Richie requested Ollson to assist, — nothing being said about compensation, and the latter set to work, and from that time till the libellee floated continued his assistance,
I am impressed by the circumstances under which the libellee floated off the reef, as favoring a conclusion that the services of the Hanning materially contributed to that result.
Discipline on board the libellee was pretty nearly at an end, and the ship’s company did practically nothing to save the vessel except under the direction or suggestion of Captain Iiaglund and Mr. Conradt.
Although the libellee cannot be said to have been in extreme peril during her stranding, she and her cargo were in great peril. The cargo was saltpeter whose value would have been substantially destroyed if the stranding had caused a leakage sufficient to have soaked it with salt water. The .season of southerly gales had not ended. Such a gale of ordinary severity would have interrupted the salvage operations and probably have totally wrecked the vessel and destroyed the cargo. The distance from Honolulu, the headquarters of all salving vessels, is about sixty miles over the open ocean. The prompt and energetic measures taken by the Inter-Island were called for by the situation and must be considered in estimating awards.
I accept the witness Blair’s appraisement of $40,000 as the salved value of the libellee, which appears conservative in view of the valuations of other witnesses, and to be based upon a satisfactory experience. This, with the estimate of values of the cargo and freight money, which are not contested, amounting to $110,834.16 and $7,460 respectively, makes an aggregate value of $158,294.16. The valuation of the four vessels of the Inter-Island aggregates $430,000, their crews numbered 189 persons. The valuation of the Intrepid is $30,000, and her crew numbered 12 persons.
Although the libel of the Inter-Island does not, like that of Spreckels, include its crews as proposed^ participants in the benefits prayed for, they are fully recognized in its brief in the words “there was a large amount of property engaged in salving and a great number of officers and crew to participate in
I estimate the compensation due the Inter-Island at about two-thirds of the aggregate amount which should be awarded to all of the salvors if all were claiming salvage.
Decree may be entered for the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, Limited, in the sum of fifteen thousand ($15,000.00) dollars, and for J. D. Spreckels & Bros. Company, in the sum of four thousand ($1,000.00) dollars, with costs.
Modified on Appeal'. See The Loch Garve, 182 Fed. 519.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE BRITISH SHIP LOCH CARVE
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Admiralty — Salvage compensation: Different classes of salvage ser. vice entitled to compensation, considered. Same — Salvage—Compensation—Efforts of volunteer that accomplish nothing: Where a volunteer attempts salvage of a stranded vessel and fails to accomplish anything and abandons the vessel which is later salved by others, lie earns no compensation. Where such volunteer, on leaving the stranded vessel forwarded a message for assistance at the first opportunity, which message did not arrive at its destination until after a later similar message forwarded by another boat of the same owner, if at all, the owner held to be not entitled to compensation on account of first message.