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MARINE LAW. AN INJURED SAILOR IN A HOME PORT NOT OBLIGED TO GO TO A HOSPITAL, Supreme Courtgof Pennsylvania. Judge Clark, Pennsylvania, on October 29th decided the case of Dr. Joseph J. Cummings vs. H. P. Holt, et al, the owners of the tng boat J. B. Woodward, in which the court lays down the Jaw that the Acts of Congress relative to hospital money for the relief of sick and dis- abled seamen do not repeal, but are: auxili- ary to, the general maritime law which obliges vessel.owners to pay for the curing of a seaman for injuries and sickness occur- ring while in the ship’s service. ‘This de- cision affirms the ruling of the Court of the Philadelphia Common Pleas No. 3, which was in favor of Dr. Cummings for $111.30, and from which decision the tug owners ap- pealed to the Supreme Court. On August 14, 1880, John Harrigan, the engineer of the tug boat, which was tied up ata wharf in Philadelphia, was scalded by the blowing ouvof the tug’s cylinder head. Dr. Cummings, a physician near by, was called in, and after dressing the man’s wounds, the latter went-to-his home in that city, where he was afterwards attended by Dr. Cummings until a cure was - effected. Harrigan had retused to go to a hospiial, and the owners‘of the tug declined to pay the doctor’s bill of $100, claiming that under he Acts of Congress such an expense ought obe borne by the Government since the custom house authorities had compelled them to pay hospital money for just such accidents. Had Harrigan gone to a hos- pital the Government would have paid for his treatment there. Walter G. Smith for the owners argued that the ship is not responsible for the med- ical attendance of a seaman if he be taken home from the vessel. A sailor ought to re- main with his ship, and if he is removed, as was necessary in this case, he cannot, at his election, choose whatever place he may wish for his recovery and demand the expense of his treatment. While it may be admitted that the Act of Congress is merely auxiliary ~ to the already established law on the subject, ‘ it certainly ought not to be construed as to leave it to the sailor to say whether he will take the benefit of the law or charge his em- ployers for medical attendance to any ex- tent he may wish. The difficulty in this case is the overstraining of the ancient mar- itime law, and attempting to apply a rule applicable to seamen upon long voyages ant upon thefocean, to the employe of a tug; ‘ ao gee vs the Ohio ibid 505. boat on the Delaware river, the longest voy- age of which never occupies more than twenty-four hours. Joseph P. Kennedy, Esq., for the phy- sician: During all the period of the doctor’s attendance, he having been called in by the captain of the tug, he looked entirely to the defendants for compensation. At common Jaw the liability of the owner of the vessel for medical attendanee to sick seamen is well settled, and it is immaterial that the sickness occurs at the home port. The engineer of a tug boat is entitled to all the rights of a sea- man. The Acts of Congress in relation to hospital dues do not affect the common law of liability. The seamen themselves pay this tax, for it is deducted from their wages by the owners. ‘I'he common law can only be repealed where the statute is clearly repug- nant, which it is not in this case. The whole system of hospital dues is only an additional safeguard for the care and protection of sea- men. Judge Clarke’s opinion is as follows: “Tt is a general and well established prin- ciple affecting the rights and responsibilities of seamen, that the shipping contract, ex- cepting as it may be modified by stipulation, includes the provisions of the law maritime. Made to be performed upon the highways of the seas, it must be read in the light of that peculiar system of the law which par- ticularly relates to the aftairs of the sea, ‘The Atlantic 1 Abbots Adm, 476; the Crusader, Ware 448; Jameson vs. the Regulus 1 Pet. Adm. Rep. 212; Curtison Merch, Seam. 106. The system was referred to as it was then umlerstood, in the second section of the Third Article of the Constitution of the United States, and thus adopted, it became the basis of the maritime law of the United States, and operates uniformly throughout the country. ‘The Lottowana 21, Wallace 658, Whilet, however, the maritime laws of of the Supreme Court of “CELE; MARINE RECORD. ihe United States | are thus founded upon the general law maritime, asa basis, so far as unaffected by legislation, it depends in some respects, upon what has been received as law, and in the maritime usages of the country, as its minor provisions vary some- what in different countries, according to the type and genius of the Governmentin which they are applied. ‘Chis branch of the law, although peculiarly within the cognizance of courts invested with maritime jurisdiction, may be referred to in all our courts on mar- itime questions, as in general the courts ot Common Law have concurrent jurisdiction with the Admiralty, in those cases which are promoted on the instance side of the lat- ter court. The right of seamen to be cured of sick- ness or any injury received in the ship’s ser- vice, at the expense of the ship, isa rule re- garded in the maritime law as forming part of the contract, and the décisions of the eourts of the United States, and of the States, sanction the rule. Laws of Oberon, Art. 7; Laws of Wisbury, Art. 19; Laws of the Hanse Towns, Art. 39; Jacobsen 144; Ab- bott on shipping, 238; Curtis on Merch, Sea- men 106, 111; the Atlantic 1 Abbott’s Adm. 476; the brig George 1 Sumner 151; Reed vs. Cunfield ibid 195; Holmes vs. Hutchin- son Gilpin 447; Pierce vs. Patten ibid 435; Harden ve. Gordon 2, Maxon 541. Jobn Harrigan was an engineer employed by the plaintiffs in error upon the tugboat J. B. Woodward. The home port of this tug was Philadelphia. As to the extent of the voyages made by it we are not informed; it is stated on the one side that they rarely ex- ceeded four hours, on the other that they extended to ports on the Chesapeake and the Atlantic coast. If either statement be correct, we are inclined to believe that un der the-decisions of our courts this was a maritime service. A maritime contract is defined to be one which relates to the busi- ness of navigation upon the sea, or to busi- ness appertaining to commerce or navigation to be transacted or done upon the sea or in senports; 2 Bouvier 154. Contracts relating tothe interstate navigation of our inland lakes and great rivers, aré not, in strict sense, maritime contracts, but they are within the Admiralty jurisdiction to the same extent as though they were arms of the sea and sub- ject to tidal influences. ‘The propeller Gen- essee Chief 12, Howard 443; Fretz’ appeal ibid, 466. ‘Thus, therefore, navigable rivers, where the tides of the sea ebb and flow are clearly within the Admiralty jurisdiction. Smith, vs. The Pekin 1, Gilpin 203; Wilson [Concluded next week .] GENERAL NEWS. Application will be made to the Canadian Parliament for a charter to construct a high level bridge across the St. Lawrence river at Quebec. The North German Lloyds will run a direct steam line between New York ‘and Gotten- berg, Sweden, beginning on April 24th, 1884. It will be a monthly line, Jay Gould’s steam yacht Atalantia, which has been refitted at Philadelphia, goes to Charleston next week, where it will be joined by Gould and his family fora trip to Mexico and the West Indies. A protest was entered for the damaged cargo of the Siberia before Judge Sutton. Out of the 60,000 bushels of wheat about 6,000 is damaged. The latter is advertised to be sold. A hint is given to capatalists in Southern seaboard cities by the American Lumberman, which says that the largest vessels ever built in Bath and other shipbuilding towns in Maine were made of Georgia pine. i The Inter-collegiate Rowing Association elected Bird, of Princeton, President, at New York Thursday last, and decided to hold the regatta at Saratoga, July 4,in which the four oared shell race shall be the event. Fifty-three men of the steamer Plantya, which sailed from New York November 11 for Antwerp, have been landed at Oporto, having been rescued from the wreck of their craft. ‘There were sixty-one souls on board, and it is believed the eight persons missing were picked up by another vessel. The ship Geo. 8. Homer cleared at Port- land, O, December 12, for New York. She is the first auxiliary steam vessel that ever cleared from the Columbia river and takes the first shipment of copper ore that ever | crossed “the bar. Her cargo ie ¢ one of the| most valuable that ever left Portland by a suiling, vessel being estimated to be worth $220,000, Captain J. W. Brown made 148 trips "hrough the St. Mary’s river this season, with the Van Raalte without finding the bottom of the river once. He made 104 con- secutive trips without missing being on time or failing to connect with a train, This speaks well for bouh steamer and captain. The German Navy List for 1884 is just iesued. ‘The Imperlal Navy now comprises thirteen ironclades, of which seven are fri- gates and six corvettes. ‘here are sixty-one cruisers, of which twenty-one are corvettes and ten gunboates, besides thirteen ironclad gupboates and fifteen torpedo boats for coast defence. Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian In- stitution, at Washington, says that the so- called sea serpent reported by Captain Greens of the life saving service, as having been seen off Long Branch, is the devilfish of South Carolina. tis a fish with projections on each side of the snout, by means of which it sometimes picks up the anchor of a good- sized boat and carries it off towing the boat ata high rate of speed to sea. One taken in the Delaware many years ago measured twenty-five feet across the flippers. Yhe steamer Reindeer, owned by Majures & Son, was.swept away December 25 while attempting to make the landing at Pittsburg» and caught the guard of the Ben Wood» owned by John A. Wood & Son, and carried the Wood along. The velocity of the boats. was frightful. The steamers Venture, Little Dick, and John Cash were badly damaged, and others slightly. At the dam the Rein- deer parted in the middle and caught fire. She is a total loss. ‘he crew were all saved, but had narrow escapes. The total loss will exceed $25,000. POURING OIL UPON WATERS. ; Following is a synopsis of a lecture by Dr. William F. Thoms, president of the Nau- tical School, 92 Madison street, New York. Reported by our New York correspondent, G, Foster Howell. The combing ot the waves can be pre vented by pouring oil upon the troubled wa- ters. It is the combing of the seas that de- stroys. Rushing with tremendous force, they carry everything before them, swamp- ing small vessels, tearing large ones to pieces, and making the staunchest steamsbip tremble. ‘The fact that it is the ‘“tecombers” that cause disasters to vessels was well- known to the arciente and oi] was uged by them to save their vessels from destruction. Oil is again being used by practical seamen to prevent disasters to their vessels from heavy seas, It is poured into canvas bags (known as duff bags,) and the bags attached to the vessel by long ropes. The oil escaping trom the bags prevents the combers from forming and enables the vessel to ride safely on asmooth sea, ’ Jt is well known that the presence of oil ov any visid substance on the surface of the sea would hinder the liquid particles {rom being disaggregated under the influence of the wind, and so forming a breaker. A fact which 1 have observed in the tropics fur- nishes an irrisistable proof of this. At night the phosphorescence of the waters reveals the presence in them of large masses of or- ganic substances (molecules) which give these waters a greater cohesion and 80 op- pose the disaggregation of the particles from their surfaces. Hence, the wake of the ship, luminous during the night, hardly produces any whitish foam during the day, and the ship, whatever her speed, glides over the seas, leaving scarcely any trace of its passage in daylight. In this way the presence of oil or .any vis- ed substance prevents the formation of ““combers,’? which are a horizontal motion of the waves caused by a translation of par- ticles of the liquid surface when they reach the crest of the waves. The water becomes disaggregated by the force of the wind and by mixture with the air. Acquiring a whit- iah color they fall over in front of the waves in violent toam, the dimensions of which depend on the force of the wind and the size of the waves, The same phenomena is observed in the absence of wind, when the swell from a dis- tance breaks on a beach, only it has another cause, the retardation of the lower part of TROUBLED the waves through friction at the bottom, It is the swell which raises large vessels as well as small boats and causes them to roll, but Is not dangerous except for fixed obsta- cles, such as breakwaters or jetties, against which the swell breaks. None of the facts recently cited appear to prove any sensible action of oil spread on the surface of the wa- ter on these undulations, and perhaps it , would have been prudent to wait until experi- ence has shown the reality of such action be- fore seeking to explain it by calculation. This might be expected when we realize the great depth of the motion ot the liquid molecules‘which result in the succession of waves that catch the eye, a motion produced by the prolonged action of the wind and con- tinued long after it has ceased. The oil, then» only prevents the breakers from forming. These breakers are observed in the open sea when a breeze begins to blow, and become more marked in proportion as the breeze freshens. Small vessels are in danger trom it in the open sea, or near shore, when the breaking wave threatens to fill them. Large may receive dangerous shocks from vessels these breakers, especially if they are not pro- tected. “With anxious care he eyes each wave, That swelling, threatens to o’erwhelm, And, his storm-beaten bark to save, Directs with skill the faithful heim.” TRIALS OF THE SCHOONER G. 8, HAZARD. ‘ Rese Correspondence Marine Record. Cuicago, December 30. The schooner G. S. Hazard, recently in Miller Brothers’ dry dock undergoing repairs, experienced a very rough time during her last trip from Buffalo to this port. She left Buffalo, laden with coal,on the 11th of No-: vember at 6 p. m., in tow of the tug Bryant, which attempted to tow her to the Union Co.’s propeller Rochester, lying outside waiting to tow her through to Chicago. The sea was s0 heavy: that the tug could not. ‘make any headway and was being pushed stern first by the schooner when three other tugs went to their assistance and towed the schooner behind the breakwater. Her an- chors were let go and she lay there until the’ next morning, when a heavy gale accompa- nied with snow caused her to drag her an- chore, aud she was driven ashore. Several tugs went to her assistance and succeeded in getting her off. She was towed into Buffalo harbor, where she lay until the following Thursday, the 15th, when she started again in tow of the propeller Rochester at 7a, m. About 9 a. m. the tow line parted. The propeller rounded too and gave the schooner another line, and they continued on their couyse until 3 p. m., when the schooners’ small boat was washed out of the davits, and ‘her back ropes were carried away, and the Rochester ran back to, Buffalo at 5 p. m., during a terriffic gale and snow storm, when it was impossible for those on board the schooner to see the Rochester so ag to steer in her wake. The timberhead and cat- head were torn out of the schooner and the tow line parted. The captain made for Buf- falo, and at 6 p. m., when about two miles off the breakwater, he let go the anchors in © eight fathoms of water and lay there until the next morning, when the tug Williams took hold of her and towed her into Buffalo harbor, where she got necessary repairs at the Union drydock. On the 18th she left Buffalo again in tow of the propeller H. J Jewett. She got along well until the 20th, when, at 6:30 p. m., ina dense fog, the Jewett and Hazen both went ashore on Sand Beach, Lake Huron, The captain jettisoned about 190 tons of coal and the schooner was towed off at 2a. m., on the morning of the 21st, by the tugs Crusader and Moore, and towed into Sand Beach harbor, where she lay until 2 p. m., when she was towed out in- to the lake by the tug Moore and proceeded alone, On the afternoon of the 23d, about five miles from Thunder Bay Island, the schooner’s rudder post gave out. Sail was shortened and she got along all right until 10 a. m. on the 24th, when the wind hauled around to the northwest, and as she could not make headway the captain signaled the propeller Lehigh, of the Anchor Line, which came to their assistance and towed her into Cheboygan Bay. Ifer anchers were let go and she remained there until the 29th about noon, when she was taken in tow by the tug Leviathan, At3p.m., as it was snowing heavily, the anchors were let go off Macki- ‘naw and the tug lay alongside of her until uA