Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), 1 Oct 1896, p. 7

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REVIEW. MARINE en XIV. Several Nice Questions in Admiralty. In November, 1892, the steamer F. & P. M. No. 2, bound ona voyage from Duluth to Ogdensburg with a cargo of flour, bran, ete., was stranded about six miles west of Long point light, Lake Hrie, and herself and cargo greatly damaged. Underwriters on the hull re- fused to pay, claiming that the vessel was unseaworthy and the loss was not within their policy. An action was brought in the United States circuit court for the eastern district of Michigan, and was tried before Judge Swan and a jury, and the7court directed the jury to re- turn a verdict for the defendants, on the ground that the vessel was ~ unseaworthy in that she was without a proper lookout, and as to the condition of her rudder,these being the proximate cause of the strand- ing and loss. It is the underwriters' turn now, and a short time since the F. & P. M.No. 2 was libeled in the United States district court at Mil- waukee by the Union Marine Insurance Co., underwriters on cargo, claiming among other things that the loss to cargo, which the com- pany paid, was caused by the negligence of the vessel, and seeking to recover from the vessel under its subrogation right. Several nice questions, not entirely new, but in somewhat differing form, will receive consideration in this case, it appearing that under the bills of lading the carrier stipulated for the benefit of any insurance; but it also appearing that the policy of insurance provides that "any act of the insured, waiving or transfering , or tending to defeat or de- crease' the insurer's right of subrogation against others "whether before or after the insurance was made under this policy, shall be a cancellation of the liability of the company, for or on account of the risk insured for which loss is claimed."' The underwriters did not avail themselves of this provision of their policy, but paid the loss, and now bring their action as above. With these conflicting provisions of the bill of lading and the poli- cy of insurance--the issuance of the insurance antedating the bill of | lading--it will be interesting to see what the court does with the claim of the underwriter under his right of subrogation. Another provi- sion of the bill of lading is that claim for loss must be made within thirty days, and any action on such claim must be brought within three months after the loss or damage occurs. These various provisions in the contracts of carriage, under which, by virtue of their right of subrogation, the underwriters must proceed, and the provision referred to in the policy, wnake a somewhat com- plicated case, the determination of which will be of interest. All of these questions have been_before the courts before, but under vary- ing facts. When losses, as in this case, are first adjusted in general average and some time necessarily consumed, it would seem unreas- onable that an owner or his underwriter could not safely wait the ad- justing of the loss and opportunity to settle in that manner without taking the risk of barring his claim, if, as many times happens, more than three months intervenes between the date of loss and refusal to accept the adjustment. An accident to the Detroit Dry Dock Co.'s big shears at the Or- leans street yard will result in quite a little loss to the company. Through a misunderstanding of engine signals, while lifting a cylin- der weighing about four and a half tons, certain parts of the machin- ery was broken, causing the shears, which weigh about forty tons, to topple over and fall flat to the ground. The cylinder that was being lifted was not injured. An advertisement elsewhere in this issue from Maj. W. L. Mar- shall of the army engineer corps, who is in charge of river and har- rimprovyements in the Chicago district, calls for bids on about 1,- 300,000 eubie yards of dredging. This seems to bea contract large fnough to bring out some low bids. Proposals will be opened at noon, Oct, 24. On this date a year ago, Oct. 1, the rate on ore from the head of the lakes to Ohio ports was advanced from $1.40 to $1.50 and few Vessels were to be had at the advance. CLEVELAND, O., OCTOBER 1, 1896. No. 14. Sales of Ore and Pig Iron. Within the past ten days leading iron firms in Cleveland that deal in ore and pig iron have made sales equal to the business of the same firms for ninety days previous. -The sales have been confined almost entirely to non-Bessemer ore and foundry pig iron, and. prices have not been governed by the schedule fixed early in 1896 for Bes- semer ores, but a movement of any kind in ore or pig iron at this time is an indication of immediate improvement in event of business confidence being restored in the coming election. Unfortunately, these sales are coming too late to be of any assistance in the lake trade during the balance of the present season, and the extent of sales thus far is not sufficient anyhow to cause an increase in the amount of ore to be brought down. Producers of Bessemer ores are still holding to the prices established early in the spring. If there is any improve- ment in the iron market during the fall and winter, more ore will be wanted than has as yet been sold, and the result should be a fair profit on sales from dock, Marcus A, Hanna. Serene in the midst of the confidence that all is well, Mr. Hanna, in his smiling, clean-shaven, and clear-eyed composure, more appre- hensive of an overdrawn sense of security than of alarms, vibrates between the city of commerce and the city of conventions, collected and vigilant as the engineer who manages the engines of a twin- screw steamer, confidant that if there is no relaxation in well-doing no tempest can come out of the skies south or east or west to stay the course of the ship safely to the port that the chart and compass tell is right ahead. Mr. Hanna is the new man in polites, the man of -- affairs of his own, finding time for unofficial business. This is not of evil; there is not a better sign of better things. The element of which Mr. Hanna is a type is needed to stand firmly for the balances of power with which the fathers conserved the republic--and this representa- tion of the ancient civic and national pride in our government under the constitution as it is, has not come to us without a cause, or ap- peared too soon; and when the contest is over and won, Mr. Hanna will deserve well of his country that he is serving for thesake of principle with motives and for consideartions, that contemplate only his fair share, as a laborious and faithful citizen of the general wel- fare. --Murat Halstead in October Review of Reviews. Counsel Harvey D. Goulder of the Lake Carriers' Association has just completed papers relating to fines imposed on a large number of vessels that are charged with violation of Sault river regulations, and in the interest of which he made a trip to Washington some time ago. It is expected that only nominal fines will be collected of these ves- sels, but in cases where owners have settled with the department, pay-. ing say $50 or $100 where $200 or more was the fine, there can be no rebate of amounts thus paid. <A case of this kind once settled could only be reopened by an act of congress, as the money goes into the treasury. Tom L. Johnson of the Johnson Steel Co. says that his company has sold only $1,800,000 of its bonds, and he knows pretty well where they are, so that he can not see how John D. Rockefeller might hold the bonds to the extent of two and a half millions. It is the opinion. among people best posted in the iron business here that Mr. Rocke- feller has no intention of taking up the manufacture of iron or steel, unless it might be that he would, later on, establish a blast furnace plant, and in that event Cleveland would very probably be the place - selected for such an enterprise. Capt. T. W. Kirby, ex-mayor of Grand Haven, Mich., and well- known throughout the lakes as a builder of, wooden ships at that point, died at Detroit Tuesday. He was stricken with paralysis while. on business in Detroit. He was sixty-five years of age and had lived in Grand Haven for about forty years. He was born on his father's sailing vessel in the China sea.

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