The Federal Reporter with Key-Number Annotations, Volume 250: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and District Courts of the United States, August-October, 1918. Page: 797
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THE WASHINGTON IRVING
THE WASHINGTON IRVING.
THE ELLEN M. RONAN.
(Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. February 13, 1918.)
No. 162.
1. COLLISION $102--BARGES IN TOW-FAULT OF TUG.
A lug, with two barges in tow in the Hudson river, h)eld chargeable
with contributory fault for a collision between the barges, when the swell
from a passing steamer caused the rear barge to jump and pound on the
one ahead, on the ground that the tug was negligent in providing worn
and insufficient hawsers for the locality, \here wave disturbance is usual,
and that their parting contributed to the collision.
2. COLLISION c N104-CoCOIBUTORY FAULT-BURDEN OF PROOF.
A toning tug, which at the time of a collision was towing with In-
ferior lnes, although its negligence i as not the primary cause of the
collision, has the burden of proving that it was not a contributing cause.
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the South-
ern District of New York.
Suit in admiralty for collision by the George M. Morrell Company
against the steamer Washington Irving, the Hudson River Day Line,
claimant, with the steam tug Ellen M. Ronan, the Cornell Steamboat
Company, claimant, impleaded. Decree for libelant against both ves-
sels, and claimant of the Ronan appeals. Affirmed.
Libelant owns the barge Percy, which was the after boat in a tandem tow of
two, in charge of the tug Ronan, and bound up the IIudson river. The Percy,
as the after boat. was lightly laden; the hawser boat, Conway, was fully
loaded. The towing hawsers were 5%-inch rope, and the vessels in tow were
fastened close together, with four parts of line, at least two of them of even
greater size.
Off Mt. St. Vincent the tow was overtaken by the Washington Irving, a
fast river steamer. The tug slowed, and so did the Irving; but the swells
and suction of the latter were sufficient to part the starboard towing hawser,
and "a half a minute" later the port one went. The jerk of this parting was
sufficiently violent to wake up a waterman asleep in the Conway's cabin.
Thereupon the boats in tow collided, then jerked apart, and again collided, in
such manner as to break three of the four lines between the Conway and
Percy, and also "break all the uprights" m the latter's bow; yet the dis-
placement waves did not come on the deck of the Percy, and the Conway's
master "couldn't say whether there was any rollers."
The owners of the Percy sued the Irving, which impleaded the Ronan. The
trial court found the Irving at fault for causing dangerous swells, and the
Ronan negligent in having poor towing hawser; the latter only appealed.
Kirlin, Woolsey & Hickox, of New York City (Robert S. Erskine,
of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Burlingham, Montgomery & Beecher, of New York City (Charles C.
Burlingham and Chauncey I. Clark, both of New York City, of coun-
sel), for appellee Washington Irving.
Pierre M. Brown, of New York City, for appellee Morrell Co.
Before WARD and HOUGH, Circuit Judges, and LEARNED
HAND, District Judge.
g*For other cases see same topic & KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests & Indexes
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The Federal Reporter with Key-Number Annotations, Volume 250: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and District Courts of the United States, August-October, 1918., legislative document, 1918; Saint Paul, Minnesota. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38821/m1/812/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.