The Steam-tug J. C. Gibbes and The Schooner Capriccio. Southern District of New York. APRIL, 1870. THE STEAM-TUG J. C. GIBBES AND THE THE STEAM-TUG E. W. GORGAS. COLLISION AT THE ATLANTIC BASIN.-TUG BOAT AND Tow.-SPEED.PART OWNer. The tug Gibbes was towing the schooner Capriccio by a hawser out of the Atlantic Basin. The tug Gorgas was towing the canal boat Webster, lashed alongside, into the Basin. A collision occurred in the cut leading into the Basin, between the canal boat and the schooner. H., the owner of the Webster, filed a libel against the Gibbes and the schooner, to recover damages for the injury received by the Webster. S., the charterer of the Webster and carrier of her cargo, who was a part owner of the Gorgas, filed a libel against the Gibbes and the schooner, to recover damages for injury to the cargo. Z., the owner of the schooner, filed a libel against the Gorgas, to recover damages for the injury received by the schooner. Held, That the collision was caused by fault of the Gorgas in coming into the cut with too great speed, and in turning into it at so short a distance from the pier that she was prevented from seeing into the cut, and that the sound of her whistle was intercepted by the warehouses on the pier, and so was not heard on board of the Gibbes. That the first two libels, therefore, must be dismissed, and the libellant in the third action must have a decree. Whether S. could have recovered against the Gorgas, of which he was part owner, if he had libelled her, quere. BLATCHFORD, J. These three libels grow out of a collision which occurred in the cut leading from the Atlantic Basin, at Brooklyn, into the East river, on the 6th of March, 1868, in broad daylight, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning, on a clear day. The steam-tug J. C. Gibbes was towing the schooner Capriccio, by a The Steam-tug J. C. Gibbes and The Schooner Capriccio. hawser, out of the Atlantic Basin, through the cut, and the steam-tug E. W. Gorgas was towing the canal boat H. C. Webster into the basin through the cut, the Webster being lashed to the port side of the Gorgas. The Webster had on board over 7,900 bushels of corn. The Gorgas and the Webster were on their way from the iron elevator at the foot of Degraw street, Brooklyn, just above the Hamilton Avenue ferry slip, to a vessel lying at Laimbeer's store in the Atlantic dock. The Webster came into collision with the schooner, the former being struck at a point about sixteen inches abaft her stem, on her starboard bow, by the cutwater of the schooner. The effect of the blow was to crush in the Webster and open her, so that it was necessary, in order to save her from sinking in deep water, to beach her on Governor's Island, which was done. Hurlbert, as owner of the Webster, sues the Gibbes and the schooner for $1,500 damages to the Webster. St. John, as charterer of the Webster at the time, and the carrier of the corn with which she was laden, valued at $11,000, sues the Gibbes and the schooner for $3,500 damages to the corn. Zadro, as owner of the schooner, sues the Gorgas for $500 damages to the schooner. It is to be noted that neither Hurlbert nor St. John sues the Gorgas, nor does Zadro sue the Gibbes. St. John was part owner of the Gorgas. After a careful examination of the evidence, which is very voluminous, I have come to the conclusion that neither the Webster, nor the Gibbes, nor the Capriccio, was at all in fault in this collision, but that it was caused wholly by the fault of the Gorgas. She went down, on a strong ebb tide, at too great a rate of speed, considering the closeness of her proximity to the western pier of the basin and the short turn she would have to make to enter the cut. The warehouses erected on the pier not only prevented her whistles from being heard by the Gibbes, but also prevented her from seeing the Gibbes and the The Steam-tug J. C. Gibbes and The Schooner Capriccio. schooner, until it was too late for her to control her course and speed so as to avoid the collision. The same cause that prevented the whistles of the Gorgas from being heard by the Gibbes, would doubtless have prevented any whistle from the Gibbes from being heard by the Gorgas. At all events, on all the evidence, I am unable to hold that the failure on the part of the Gibbes to whistle was a fault that contributed to the collision. The Gibbes was going at a very slow speed, and her tow had barely entered the cut, when the Gorgas came around the upper outer corner of the cut, from the East river, at great speed, swept along by a strong ebb tide, and was carried by her impetus so far over, that, in spite of all her efforts by backing her engine, she barely grazed the Gibbes and dashed the starboard bow of the Webster against the stem of the schooner. As the Webster was on the port side of the Gorgas, and the Gorgas herself was not struck by the schooner, she must have carried herself and the Webster in between the Gibbes and the schooner. There is no evidence of any sheering on the part of the schooner. It was very reckless navigation to go down, in such a tide, at such speed, so close to the pier, with the view into the cut and basin obstructed. Prudence, and a due regard to her own safety and that of vessels coming out of the basin, required the Gorgas, with the tide and her speed such as they were, to go out further into the East river and head into the cut from a point where she could have some view into the cut, and could be certain that the sound of her whistles would not be intercepted by the warehouses. As Hurlbert has not sued the Gorgas, and as the Gibbes and the schooner were not in fault, his libel must be dismissed, with costs. St. John has not sued the Gorgas, even if he could have recovered against her, inasmuch as the evidence shows that he was part owner of her and was on board of her at the time. His libel must be dismissed, with costs. There The Steamboat Northfield and The Steam-tug Hunter. must be a decree in favor of Zadro, with costs, with a reference to compute the damages sustained by him. For Hurlbert and St. John and the Gorgas, T. C. T. Buckley. For Zadro and the Capriccio, W. R. Beebe and C. Donohue. For the Gibbes, W. J. Haskett. APRIL, 1870. THE STEAMBOAT NORTHFIELD STEAM-TUG HUNTER. AND THE COLLISION IN NEW YORK HARBOR.-STEAMBOATS CROSSING.-WRONGFUL STOPPING.-Speed. 300 yards apart, the H., without The N. was then on a port helm, As soon as the stopping of the H. The steam tug H., with a schooner lashed to her port side, was on her way from Hoboken, N. J., to a place south of Governor's Island. The steamboat N., a ferry-boat running from New York to Staten Island, left her slip at Whitehall, and swung around with the ebb tide, on a port helm, changing her direction from south to south-west, until she should be clear of Governor's Island, when her course would be about south, to Staten Island. The course of the H. was about south. The N. was going from ten to twelve knots an hour and the H. about two. When the vessels were about giving any signal, stopped and backed. intending to pass under the stern of the H. was seen, the N. put her helm hard-a-port, and also stopped her engine and attempted to reverse it, but, owing to her speed, it was only on the third attempt that the engineer was able to get the engine to pass the centre. The engine made one or two turns back before the collision. The N. struck the schooner in the side, injuring her so that she sank. The excuse given by the H. for stopping was, that the cleets to which the lines that held the schooner were fastened, were so loose that it was feared that the swell caused by the near passage of the N. ahead of her, where it was supposed the N. intended to pass, The Steamboat Northfield and The Steam-tug Hunter. would have caused the breaking loose of the schooner. A libel was filed on behalf of the schooner against both steamboats. Held, That, as the vessels were crossing, and the N. had the H. on her starboard side, it was the duty of the H. to keep on, and of the N. to keep out of her way. That the H., therefore, was in fault in stopping and backing. That the excuse set up by her for so doing was itself a fault. She had no business to be navigating with cleets so loose. That the N. was not in fault in her rate of speed, that being shown to be her usual rate. That she had the right to assume that the H. would keep on, and to shape her own course so as to pass under the stern of the H., if the latter kept on. That the stoppage of the H. was the cause of the collision; and that the inability on the part of the N. to reverse her engine before she did, was not a fault. That the H. was solely liable for the damage. BLATCHFORD, J.-This is a libel filed by the owner of the three-masted schooner Hero, against the side-wheel steamboat Northfield and the screw steam-tug Hunter, to recover for the damages sustained by him, claimed to amount to $4,500, by the sinking of the schooner, with a cargo of one hundred and fifty-seven tons of coal on board of her, which she was transporting, for hire, at the time, and some personal effects and provisions belonging to the libellant, the whole having been totally lost, in consequence of a collision which occurred between the schooner and the Northfield, on the morning of the 18th of May, 1868, between ten and eleven o'clock, at a point between the Battery and Governor's Island, in the harbor of the city of New York, just where the East river forms a junction with the North river. The schooner was in tow of the Hunter, being lashed to the port side of the Hunter, and was on her way from Hoboken, in New Jersey, where she had taken on board her cargo of coal, to a place below and south of Governor's Island, there to be left by the Hunter and anchored, until she should be taken in tow by another and more powerful steam-tug, to be carried through Hell Gate, on her way to New Haven, in Connecticut, whither she was bound. The Northfield was BT. VOL. IV.-8 |