The Thelma
The Thelma
Opinion of the Court
On December 27, 1910, the Norwegian steamship Thelma was taking on cargo in the port of Philadelphia. When the injury complained of was done, she was receiving heavy sheets or slabs of steel piling varying in length from say 30 to 50 feet, or even more. These slabs were intended for use in the cofferdam around the wreck of the Maine in the harbor of Havana. The ship was under a 'time charter that required the charterers to pay the cost of loading and discharging, but the ship was to furnish “ropes, falls, slings, and blocks necessary to handle ordinary cargo,” etc.; and it was further provided that—
“all steam winches [were to be] at charterer’s disposal during the loading and discharging, and steamer to provide men to work same both day and night as required, charterers agreeing to pay extra expense, if any, incurred by reason of night work, at the current local rate.”
The loading was being done by a master stevedore under contract with the charterers. The ship lay, bow in, with the pier close to starboard, and the piling was on railroad cars alongside. The particular work in question was going on at No. 3 hatch, and the method was this: Two winches were in use, No. 3 and No. 4. Two booms, A and B, extended from the mainmast, approximately at right angles to each other, and were firmly fixed in place by guys; A extending over the hatch, and B over the car. A wire rope ran from No. 4 winch through two blocks to the end of boom B, where it hung over the car, ending in a short chain and a hook. Another wire rope ran from No. 3 winch through two blocks to the end of boom A, and thence across the ship’s deck to starboard, until it reached the wire rope hanging from boom B. These two ropes were then shackled together,
Is the ship liable .for his negligence? The hatch tender, the winch-man at No. 3, and all'the men in the hold were employed by the master stevedore; but the winchman at No. 4 was a seaman, hired, maintained, paid, and furnished by the ship under the charter. He was experienced and competent, and his mistake was not due to lack of skill. He had been assigned to this work by the ship, and could not be removed by the master stevedore. He could only be discharged, or assigned elsewhere, or removed, by the ship. H for any reason, his conduct at the winch had been objectionable, the stevedore could have stopped. work, or complained to the mate. Probably another man would then have been substituted; but as long as the seaman was at the winch he was the ship’s man, and was doing the work the ship had agreed to do. Nevertheless, whether he had become a fel-kfw servant of the injured man is a question upon which the decided cases differ. If I were at liberty to follow The Elton, 142 Fed. 367, 73 C. C. A. 467, a case in the Court of Appeals of this circuit, I should hold that he was a fellow servant, and that the libelant could not recover against the ship. But I am under a superior obligation to the Supreme Court, and in my opinion the more recent decision in Standard Oil Co. v. Anderson, 212 U. S. 215, 29 Sup. Ct. 252, 53 L. Ed. 480, requires me to hold that he was not a fellow serva,nt, and that the ship is liable for his negligence.
The situation in The Elton did not differ materially from the situation here, as will appear by the following quotation from the syllabus :
“The consignee of a cargo exercised its option to discharge the cargo, being allowed a deduction from the freight therefor, and the vessel being required to furnish steam winches and men to operate the same. The winchman so furnished acted under the immediate orders of the master stevedore employed by the consignee. Held that, if ordinary care .was exercised by the master of the vessel to furnish competent winchmen, the vessel was not liable for an injury to the stevedore resulting from a negligent act o£ one of the winchmen.”
The test applied by thé court was this:
“In a case like the present, we think the true test of fellow servant is whether both are, at the precise time of the accident, working in a common employment under the same general control and direction.”
In Standard Oil Co. v. Anderson the syllabus states the court’s conclusion as follows:
“A winchman employed by the person furnishing the hoisting power to a master stevedore for loading a vessel held to remain that person’s servant, notwithstanding the hoisting signals were given by the stevedore’s foreman, and not to be a fellow servant of an employe of the stevedore who was injured by his negligence.”
The Supreme Court concedes that a servant in the general service of another may be so transferred to the service of a third person as to become the latter’s servant pro hac vice, with all the legal consequences of the new relation, but adds that to change the original re-
“It sometimes happens that one wishes a certain work to he done for his benefit, and neither has persons in his employ who can do it nor is willing to take such persons into his general service, lie may then enter into an agreement with another. If that other furnishes him with men to do the work, and places them under his exclusive control in the performance of it, those men become pro hat- vice the servants of Mm to whom they are furnished. Hut, on the other hand, one may prefer to enter into an agreement with another that the other, for a consideration, shall himself perform the work through servants of his own selection, retaining the direction and control of them. In the first; case, he to whom the workmen are furnished is responsible for their negligence in the conduct of the work, because the work is his work and they are for the time his workmen. In the second case, he who agrees to furnish the completed work through servants over whom lie retains control is responsible for their negligence in the conduct of it. because, though it is done for the ultimate benefit of the other, it is still in its doing his own work. To determine whether a given case falls within the one class or the other, we must inquire whose is the work thus performed, a question .which is usually answered by ascertaining who has the power to control and direct the servants in the performance of their work. Here we must, carefully distinguish between authoritative direction and control, and mere suggestion as to details or the necessary co-operation, where the work furnished is part of a larger undertaking.”
[n applying this test of authoritative direction and control to the facts of that case — which' I think are not essentially different from the facts now under consideration- — the court said (212 U. S. 225, 29 Sup. Ct. 255, 53 L. Ed. 480):
“Was the winchman. at the time he negligently failed to observe the signals, engaged in the work of the master stevedore, under his rightful contri)!; or was lie rather engaged in the work of the defendant, under its rightful coni rol? We think that the latter was the true situation. The winchman was, undoubtedly, in the general employ of the defendant, who selected him, paid his wages, and had the right to discharge him for incompetency, misconduct, or any other reason. In order to relieve the defendant from the results of th<' legal relation of master and servant, it must, appear that that relation, for the time, had been suspended, and a new like relation between the winchman and the stevedore had been created. The evidence in this case does not warrant the conclusion that this changed relation had come Into existence. For reasons satisfactory to it, the defendant, preferred to do the work of hoisting irself, and received an agreed compensation for it. The power, the winch, the drum, and the winchman were its own. It did not furnish them, but furnished the work they did to tile stevedore. That, work ivas done h.v the defendant, for a price, as its own work, by and through its own instrumenta litios and servant, under its own control.
“Much stress is laid upon the fact that the winchman obeyed the signals of the gangman. who represented the master stevedore, in timing the raising and lowering of the cases of oil. But, when one large general work is undertaken by different persons, doing distinct parts of the same undertaking, there must be co-operation and co-ordination, or there will be chaos. The giving of the signals under the circumstances of this ease was not the giving of orders, but of information, and the obedience to those signals showed co-operation, rather than subordination, and is not enough to show that there has been a change of masters.”
Following this decision, I am obliged to hold that the ship is liable for the negligence at No. 4 winch. There was no contributory neg
A decree for this amount, with costs, may be entered.
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