The Nevada. pool, which was her destination. The libel alleges, that the Kate Green was properly and securely moored and fastened. and that the collision occurred through the negligence of those in charge of the Nevada, and not through any neglect on the part of the Kate Green, her master and crew. The libel claims for a total loss of the canal boat and her cargo. The answer alleges, that the Kate Green was made fast, by her bow only, to a floating grain elevator which lay alongside and to the south of a steamer which was lying at the south side of pier 47; that the stern of the Kate Green was not fastened to anything; that between the Kate Green and said steamer there were two canal boats and another elevator; that the Kate Green remained thus made fast until the hour arrived for the Nevada to sail; that her master was notified of the approaching departure of the Nevada, and was warned that the boat was not properly moored, and was exposed to danger from the departure of the Nevada; that, notwithstanding said warning, he neglected to take the steps necessary to secure the boat; that the Nevada, at the hour appointed, left her berth, and, moving slowly and carefully, proceeded out into the river; that, previous to and while so leaving her berth, the steam whistle' was blown, the bells on deck were rung, and all usual and proper precautions were taken to announce said departure and to avoid collision with the several lighters and canal boats lying in the slip; that, as the natural and ordinary result of the movement of the Nevada through the water, and of the action of her screw, the water was sucked or drawn towards the Nevada, and the stern of the canal boat, so allowed to remain unfastened, was thereby drawn over to the side of the Nevada, and struck against the Nevada with a violent blow; also, that the collision was occasioned solely by the negligence of the master and crew of the Kate Green, and by reason of her said improper and insufficient mooring. The fair reading of the answer is, that the situation and insufficient mooring of the Kate Green were seen and known by those on board of the Nevada, that the Kate Green was warned in respect thereto, that she neglected to moor herself The Nevada. more securely; that, after such warning was given, those on the Nevada saw that the Kate Green did not moor herself more securely, and saw that she continued to be insufficiently moored; and that, nevertheless, the Nevada, with full knowledge that the natural and ordinary result of the action of her screw, as she would move ahead, would be to suck or draw the water, and with it the unfastened portion of the Kate Green, over to the Nevada, put her screw in motion, and kept it in motion, until the collision occurred, in consequence of such drawing over of the Kate Green until she struck the Nevada. A clearer case of negligence on the part of the Nevada could not well be set forth. Much evidence is given as to the mooring of the Kate Green; as to whether she was fastened at all by lines to anything; and as to how she was fastened, if she was fastened. I deem it unprofitable to discuss or determine those questions, and many other questions as to which evidence was given. The case is easy of solution on plain propositions. If the Kate Green was loose in the slip, and not fastened at all, her condition ought to have been seen by and known to those on the Nevada, and it was negligence in them to set the screw of the Nevada in motion, under such circumstances that the Kate Green could be drawn over against the Nevada by the suction of the screw of the Nevada. And this is true whether the Kate Green was warned or not, and whether, when warned, she was loose or was only insufficiently fastened. And it is true whether the warning came from the Nevada or from elsewhere. Indeed, an unheeded warning from the Nevada, given before the Nevada set her screw in motion, so far from relieving the Nevada from fault, only serves to make her fault in starting her screw more clear, as showing that she had her attention called to the perilous condition of the Kate Green, and yet set her screw in motion. If the Kate Green was fastened, she was so fastened that she was at such a distance from the Nevada, that, after she began to be drawn over by the suction of the moving screw of the Nevada, there was abundant time for the Nevada to have stopped her screw and avoided the col The Nevada. lision, if there had been a proper lookout kept in the proper place on board of the Nevada. The fact, that no one on board of the Nevada knew or heard of the accident till she had crossed the ocean, tells the whole story. It is abundantly proved, that, as the Kate Green was being drawn over by the suction of the moving screw of the Nevada, the Nevada was hailed from the Kate Green to stop her screw, but no heed was paid to the hail, by the Nevada, because there was no person in a position on the Nevada to hear the hail. Whatever observation was made by those on the Nevada, of the position of the vessels in the slip, preparatory to the sailing of the Nevada, and whatever warning she gave by any hails to any boat in the slip, were made and given, on the evidence, at a time before the Kate Green had come into the slip. Indeed, the answer does not aver that any oral notice or hail or warning was given to the Kate Green by any one on board of the Nevada. As there was fault on the part of the Nevada, causing damage to the cargo of the Kate Green, and as the Nevada alone is sued in this suit for such damage, and as no fault, if any, of the Kate Green, can be imputed to the cargo, there would have to be a decree against the Nevada in respect to the cargo, even if the Kate Green also were found to be in fault for the collision. As to the boat herself, I do not find that she was in fault. If she was loose, not fastened, she was not in fault for remaining so, whether warned or not, because it was the duty of the Nevada to see her condition and not to put her screw in motion. If the Kate Green was fastened, she was fastened at a distance from the Nevada which allowed abundant time, if her fastenings parted, for the Nevada, with a proper lookout, to stop her screw, after the Kate Green began to be drawn over. In either view, the Kate Green, in fact, hailed the Nevada, after the suction began to take effect, in season for the Nevada to have stopped her screw and saved the collision, if an officer of the Nevada had been stationed in a proper place, to observe the condition of the Kate Green and to hear the hail. There The Nevada. must be a decree for the libellant, as to both boat and cargo, with a reference to ascertain the damages." This Court found the following facts: "About three o'clock in the afternoon of September 27th, 1871, the steamship Nevada left her berth in the slip between piers 46 and 47, North River, New York, on a voyage to Liverpool. She was one of a line of ocean steamers plying regularly between New York and Liverpool, owned by an English corporation of which Williams & Guion were agents in New York, and, previous to her departure, lay on the north side of pier 46, with her bow toward the river, and her stern toward the bulkhead. The slip was two hundred and five feet wide, pier 46 six hundred and thirty feet long, and pier 47 six hundred and twenty-four. On the opposite of the slip, and on the south side of pier 47, lay the steamship Queen, also with her bow toward the river, and her stern toward the bulkhead. The bow of the Nevada was about thirteen feet back from the end of her pier, and that of the Queen fifty-two feet six inches from the end of hers. Two floating grain elevators lay alongside of, and moored to, the Queen; one named the Scotia, at one of the forward hatches, and the other, named the Metropolitan, at one of the after hatches. The canal boat Sarah and Madonna, lay alongside of the Metropolitan, with her stern toward the bulkhead, and was being unloaded into the Queen. At her stern lay the canal boat C. H. Hart, with her bow toward the bulkhead, and extending some distance beyond the Metropolitan. Her stern was made fast by a line to the Metropolitan, and her bow by another leading to the deck of the Queen. She was waiting her turn to be unloaded. One or more boats lay alongside the Scotia, and moored to her, and there were two lighters at the bulkhead, astern of the Nevada. The length of the Nevada was three hundred and fifty-five feet, and her beam forty-three feet, four inches. The length of the Queen was three hundred and eighty-one feet, and her beam forty-two feet four inches. The Metropolitan was about eighty-seven feet long, and her width twenty-four feet. The C. H. Hart was ninety-six feet long, The Nevada. and her width seventeen feet, four inches. Just as the Nevada was starting, the canal boat Kate Green, owned and commanded by the libellant Quick, came into the slip, in tow, on the port side, of the tug Jacob Sinex, and was placed alongside the C. H. Hart. Her master, Quick, made a line from her bow to the bow of the Hart, and her steersman another from her stern to the stern of the Hart. While this was being done, the tug let go and commenced backing out of the the slip, but she had only time to get under the stern of the Kate Green, or a little beyond, when the Nevada started. Previous to the time the Kate Green came into the slip, full public notice had been given by those in charge of the Nevada, that she was about to depart, and particular notice was also given to all the boats then alongside the Queen, including the C. H. Hart. When the Hart came in she was sent up the slip, in order that she might keep out of the way. The Nevada had been advertised to sail at that hour. Her bells had been rung, and her whistles blown, several times. Signals, indicating that she was about to depart, were flying at her mast-head. She took out, on that voyage, a considerable number of cabin and steerage passengers, and there was about her decks and on her pier, all the bustle and noise which usually accompanys the sailing of a large ocean steamer. The Kate Green was not seen from the Nevada when she came in, and no special notice was given to her that the Nevada was about to leave. She had no time, after her arrival, to give particular attention to what was being done on board of the Nevada, or on the pier. All the bells were rung and whistles blown before she arrived, or while the attention of those on board was given to making her fast and getting away from the tug. Neither was there time for her master to examine particularly the fastenings of the Hart. The Nevada started almost simultaneously with her getting alongside the Hart, and the first actual notice she had that the Nevada was about to leave was when the propeller commenced moving. If she was, in fact, made fast at the time, it had only just been done. She lay about sixty feet from the Nevada. |