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JUNE 6, IgoI. THE MARINE RECORD, Ce ee ee eee looked down below some thirty feet, and saw assistant engi- neer Brady and his attendant near the reversing engine, which, at that distance, satisfied him that everything was all right throughout below, which was an inspection at long range. He continued walking to and froin his room, occasionally taking a look out across the deck into the fog and down into the engine room, all the time half dressed with a service jacket over his pajamas, until the ship struck. He then seemed to realize the fact that his place was below, where he should have been all the time during the previous hour. Before retiring for the night, he left no orders to be called, or to have his assistant engineers and others of the off-watches called when the ship got under way; nor did he give orders to call those people after he got up, which he could easily have done by communicating with Mr. Brady through a speaking tube leading from his room down to the working platform, where every chief engineer of a steamer of the size of the ‘‘City of Rio de Janeiro’’ knows and feels it is his duty to be on such occasions. Had he and all his assistants then been at their posts, where the printed orders of General Manager Schwerin positively required them to be, the water-tight door on the bulkhead between the fireroom and the coal-bunker could have been sooner closed, and also the hinged door at the mouth of the tunnel between the engine and boiler rooms could possibly, with more assistance, have been closed in the earlier stage of the water, and without, as he states, en- dangering the lives of the people in the fireroom, who, un- questionably, at once ran up the fireroom ladder. The closing of that door might have kept out of the en- gine rcom and away from the dynamo for a longer time the water that finally submerged it, and put out the lights about the ship, which was left in darkness to the discomfort of everybody on the ship a few minutes before she sunk. Pos- sibly the extinction of the lights at that time caused the loss of the lives of some of the people who were obliged to grope about in the darkuess thereafter until the ship struck. The immediate starting of the pumps and the opening of | the bilge suction to the circulating pump by the appellant’s direction after he got down in the engine room was a com- mendable act, but their efforts to control so much water as he states was passing from the boiler-room to the engine- room, against which the hinged door could not be closed, offered but little relief. After ordering his forces from the engine-room, where the water was fast rising, he directed his engineers, water-ten- ders, and oilers, and the No. 1 firemen, to start the fire in the donkey boiler for use in emergencies. That was a duty that could have been performed by one ortwo men. He, at that time, thought, and doubtless his assistants also thought, that, until the moment of her disappearance the ship was on the bottom, as he testified that he did not hear any signal to take to the boats. He proceeded from the donkey boiler to his room on the deck above to dress himself, leaving his peo- ple standing down about said donkey boiler-room on the starboard side of the ship without instructions, because, as he states, there was more deck-room thereabout than else- where, which seems absurd. I find on the blue-print of the deck plans of the ship that there was a gangway near by, by which some of. those peo- ple may have subsequently escaped to the hurricane deck, possibly some of them to have been carried down by the awnings when the ship began to roll well over on her star- board beam, as she appears to have done during the few minutes that elapsed before her final disappearance, as testi- fied to by the pilot, who walked on her starboard side. It is true, as argued by the appellant’s attorney, that Her- lihy did not run the ship ashore, but his argument ‘‘that the time for summoning the engineers to the engine-room had not arrived at the time the ship struck,’ fails to convert me to such views. The unwritten law, as properly stated by the lower court in the appellant’s case, requires the presence of the chief en- gineer and his assistants down in the engine-room proper during the time that a steamer of any considerable magni- tude is entering or leaving port; that was too well understood by the appellant to admit of argument. His negligence and inattention to duty, in not being down on the working platform, and having his assistants there, after the anchor was weighed on that perilous occasion, can- not be lightly passed over; but he is entitled to the benefit of all doubts as to what might have been done down there. His friends have solicited for him a modification of the penalty imposed by the lower court, giving as a reason, his long and faithful service, his partial poverty, and his large family. Some of his friends suggest that Boiler Inspector Bulger was prejudiced against him, which leads me to remark that Mr. Bulger is a painstaking and efficient officer, and I believe incapable of carrying his prejudice, if he had any, against the appellant, into court. It is significant that the testimony of the appellant before. the lower court, which presented some damaging statements against himself, was not admitted by him as a part of the evidence in this case. However, I believe that the ends of justice will be served if the penalty imposed by the lower court be modified from a revocation of the appellant’s license as chief engineer of ocean steam vessels to a suspension of said license for the period of three months from March 22nd 1901. Therefore, the local board is hereby directed to issue to the appellant, P. H. Herlihy, a certificate of his lost license upon his making on or after June 22nd, 1go1, the required affidavit of loss. JOHN BERMINGHAM, Supervising-Iospector, First District. $e STATISTICAL REPORT OF LAKE COMMERCE. ‘THROUGH CANALS AT SAULT STH. MARIE, MICHIGAN AND ONTARIO, FOR THE MONTH OF MAy, Igor. EAST BOUND. Articl: s. U.S. Caral. a Tctal. Copper, net tons.......... 7,569 1,427 8,996 Grain, bushels............ 2,353,928 458,000 | 2,811,928 Building stone, net tons... 1,990 1,430 3,420 Hlour, barrels. 00.0 fe 858,753 62,640 921,393 Iron ore, net tons......... 1,121,719 50,813, | 1,172,532 Iron, pig, net tons........ 1,064 1,625 2,689 Lumber, M. ft. B. M...... 87,742 50 87,792 Silver ore, net tons........ an fore Salas Wheat, bushels........... 4,716,265 | 1,243,277 | 5 959 542 Genl. Mdse., nett ns..... 3 48t 597 4,078 Passengers, number....... 646 2,018 2,664 WEST BOUND. Coal, hard, net tons:...... 104,568 2,600 107,168 Coal, soft, net tons....... 338, 108 21,978 360,086 Flour, barrels............ ne coe ie an Grain, bushels........ eS aus Sie seks Manf’d iron, net tons..... 5,645 2,297 | 7,942 Salt, barrels.............. 98,366 480 98,846 Genl. Mdse., net tons..... 52,224 9,955 62,179 Passengers, number....... 1,037 2,305 3,242 Freight: East bound, net tons...... 1,580, 149 113,152 | 1,693,301 West bound, net tons..... 515,300 36 899 | 552,199 Total freight, net tons.....| 2,095,449 159,051 | 2,245,500 Vessel passages, number.. 1,559 443 1,999 Reg’d tonnage, net tons. ..| 1,905,226 165,170 | 2,070,396 Compiled at St. Mary’s Falls canal, Michigan, under di- rection of Lieutenant Colonel G. J. Lydecker, Corps of En- gineers, U. S. A. Joseph Ripley, Assistant Eugineer and General Superintendent. oo or or NOTICE TO MARINERS. LIGHT-HOUSE ESTABLISHMENT. OFFICE OF THE LIGHT-HOUSE INSPECTOR, 11TH DISTRICT, DETROIT, MICH., June I, 19 I. St. Mary’s RIVER.—MICHIGAN.—Notice is hereby given that the pile structure of the Brush Point Beacon Light No. 280, List of Lights and Fog-Signals Northern Lakes and Rivers, 1901, has been reconstructed and the light relighted on May 31, Igol. LAKE Huron, MicH.—In accordance with Light-House Board Notice to Mariners Ne. 36, of 1901, the following- named gas buoys have been establised, viz.: ' Gravelly Point Shoal Gas Buoy No. 4, the position of © which has been moved one-half mile to the the southward to mark the southerly edge ofa detached eighteen (18) foot shoal. Tawas Point Gas Buoy No. 6. North Point Gas Bury No. Io. By order of the Light-House Board: J. C. WiLson, Commander, U. S. N., Inspector 11th District. — ea OOS THERE is a practical certainty that France will grant a sub- sidy to the proposed direct steamship line between France and Canada. This subsidy will be similar to the one voted by the Canadian Parliament. SHIPPING AND MARINE JUDICIAL DECISIONS. (COLLABORATED SPECIALLY FOR THE MARINE RECORD.) Shipping—Injury to Cargo—Burden of Proof—Where a charter party and a bill of tading contain exceptions in ke- half of the vessel, or breakage and leakage, and of dangers of the sea, and the cargo owner maintaining that the true cause of injury to the cargo was improper stowage, the bur- den of maintaining this proposition rests on the cargo owntr. Crowell vs. Union Oil Co., 107 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 302. Exceptions in Bills cf Lading —A provision of a bill of lading that the ship is not to be answerable for loss through any ‘‘latent defect in the machinery or hull not resulting from want of due negligence by the owners,”’ does not cover a condition of unseaworthiness existing at the commence- ment of the voyage, but applies only to a state of unseawor- thiness arising during the voyage. The Aggi, 107 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 300. son sek Shipping—Cargo Damage—Seaworthiness.—A cargo of sugar was damaged on a voyage from Java to Boston, by sea water, which entered around loosened bolts securing in . places a wooden scroll work under the ship’s figurehead, and extending some feet from the prow on either side of the vessel. These bolts extended through the ship’s plates, being fastened by nuts on the inside, and were in such posi- tion that water entering through the holes would reedily flow into the fore peak, where the sugar damaged was stowed: " The action of the seas upon the scroll work, especially in rough weather and when the ship was heavily laden, would naturally tend to gradually loosen the nuts on such bolts. The bolts had not been inspected for two years, and there was no evidence showing whether or not the nuts were loose at the beginning of the voyage, except the testimony of the officers that there was no leakage on the previous voyage. On the voyage the ship was heavily laden, and encountered some heavy weather, but not more than should have reason- ably been anticipated. Held, that if the bolts were loose at the inception of the voyage, the ship was in that respect un- seaworthy, from the consequence of which the owners were not relieved from liability by the provisions of the Harter act, and that the evidence was not sufficient to overcome the presumption of fault which arises against the carrier when goods are damaged during their transportation. The Agegi, 107 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 300. f Unseaworthiness—Frozen Water Pipes.—A water service pipe on the upper deck of a steamship had a branch passing: down through the deck, across the vessel, and terminating in a brass cap for the attachment of a hose for washing the midship deck. The space where the pipe terminated was not originally intended for cargo, but had been inclosed, : and was sometimes used for that purpose. There was no valve by which such branch pipe could be cut off from the main pipe on the upper deck. While the ship was loading fora voyage in New York, there was severe cold weather, during which the hatch into the compartment where the pipe terminated was open, and the compartment was filled with cargo, and the hatch battened down, so that the compart- ment was not readily accessible. During the time of load- ing, the water in the branch pipe froze, and the cap burst, andin using the main pipe during the voyage water ran through the branch pipe into the compartment, and dam- aged the cargo, before it was discovered. Held, that as to such compartment the vessel was not seaworthy on sailing, nor was due dilligence used to make her so, within the pro- visions of the Harter act or similar provisions in the bills of lading; that there was a lack of suitable care, also, in load- ing the cargo in the compartment with such a pipe not suit- ably protected against frost, and without inspection as to its condition, which could have been readily discovered and easily remedied, so as to prevent exemption of the owners from liability under other provisions of the bills of lading. The Catania, 107 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 152. Fog—Steamer at Fault—Lookout.—A schooner, sailing close-hauled at the speed of about three knots an hour, came into collision with a steamer, about 20 miles off Fire Island, in a thick fog, about 2p.m. When the fog set in about half an hour before collision, the steamer slackened to half speed, which was about seven knots, and the only lookout prior to the collision was the first lieutenant, who stood on the bridge. The lieutenant heard the schooner’s fog horn, and, looking in the direction from whence the sound came, saw the schooner’s topmast on the starboard side, where- upon, at his signal, the steamer was at once reversed full speed, and three blasts of the whistle blown. The distance between the schooner and the steamer, when first seen, was about 80 meters. The schooner executed no maneuver after hearing the whistles of the steamer, and the schooner’s mas- ter testified that the steamer was about 600 feet away when he first saw her. The seamen of the steamer, located for- ward of the bridge, did not see the schooner prior to the re- versing of her engines, but were engaged in other work, and were not on the lookout. Held, that the steamer was at fault for the collision in failing to maintain a proper lookout in the crow’s nest or forward of the bridge. The schooner was also at fault for failure to attempt to avert the collision by luffing as soon asthe steamer’s signals were heard, in violation of the international rules (Act Aug. 19, 1890; Act May 28, 1894), declaring that when, in consequence of thick weather, the vessel entitled to hold her course finds herself so close that a collision cannot be avoided by the action of the giving-way vessel alone, she shall take such action as will best aid to avert collision. The Patria, 107 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 157. ,