Spraker v. The Alfredo
Spraker v. The Alfredo
Opinion of the Court
The decision of these actions depends upon the question whether a collision between the bark Alfredo and the schooner Laura Belie, which occurred on the high seas, was caused by the fault of the bark, or the fault of the schooner, or by the fault of both, or of neither of the vessels. The collision happened in a dense fog. The bark was sailing close hauled on the starboard tack, making some three miles an hour. The schooner was hove to, with wheel lashed to starboard, the jib fast to the mast and aback, her mainsail trimmed to windward, and her foresail down. ' She was powerless to make any change of position. An effort was made in behalf of the schooner by calling the master a second time, at the last moment, to show the schooner to be moving, but the effort failed. Pive or six of the schooner’s own crew prove beyond the possibility of dispute that the schooner was not going ahead. Her libel describes her as “laid to, waiting for an
In Marsden on Collisions, 848, it is stated without qualification that “a ship is under way within the meaning of this article, when she is not fast to the shore or to moorings, or held by her anchor.” But this statement does not seem to be supported by the authorities cited. In the case of the collision between the steam-ship Pennsylvania and the bark Mary Noop, which collision was before the judicial committee of the privy council (3 Mar. Law Gas. 477,) and also before the supreme court of the United States, (19 Wall. 125,) the obligation to sound a foghorn was held to attach to the sailing vessel, by reason of the fact there proved that she had no sails aback, and was going through the water at about a mile an hour. She was, as the supreme court says, constantly changing her position. Judging by the test applied in that case, the Laura Belle, although not fast to the shore, or to moorings, or held by an anchor, was not under way within the meaning of article 12 of the international regulations of 1885. Here the schooner had sails aback and was not moving. She is described by her crew to be “dead in the water.” “Sails not drawing at all.” The rules, as it seems to nie, are faulty indeed if they required this schooner, powerless as she was, a,nd unable to do anything whatever in time to avoid the bark, to give to the approaching bark the same signal that she would give if moving and able to make some effort to get out of the bark’s way. As I read the rules, in the light of the decision of the supreme court in the ease of The Pennsylvania, they required this schooner to bo ringing a bell, and forbid her to be sounding a horn.
The next question is whether this disobedience of the law by the schooner contributed to the collision that ensued. Hero the law declared in the ease of The Pennsylvania, already cited, is applicable, and it must be presumed that the failure to ring a bell, and sounding a horn instead, was “contributing cause of the disaster.” This presumption is conclusive in a case like this where nothing appears to overthrow the presumption, and compels a decision that the damages arising from the collision were caused by the fault of the schooner.
Was the bark guilty of any fault which renders her also liable? I find none. It is insisted by the schooner that the bark had no proper
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Alfredo. The Laura Belle. Spraker v. The Alfredo Dodero v. The Laura Belle
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published