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8 THE MARI NE RECORD. aaa MARINE LAW. LIABILITY OF SHIPOWNERS. Superior Court.—New York. General Term. Sedgewick, C. J.: ‘'ruax and O’Gorman, J. John Paterson respondent, against John Swan, appellant. Appeal by defendant from interlocutory judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon an order sustaining plantiff’s demurrer to a part of an answer that pleaded a non-joiner ot certain parties who it was claimed, should have been made defendants. ‘The plaintiff sued the defendant, as owner of a vessel on which he shipped as seaman, for dumages for the alleged wrongful acts uf the master in compelling him te do ordinary work of a seaman when his injuries had un- fitted him todo them. ‘The answer averred that there were other, owners, and numed them. Held. ‘That plaintiff’s demurrer to the answer was properly sustained. Sedgewick, C. J.—The complaint charges that the plaintiff was employed as a seaman on a bark for a voyage to Java and back; that while on the voyage he was thrown upon the deck by reason of a sea striking the vessel, there from receiving injuries to his body, and eepecially his arm; that the master proceeded to treat him for his injuries, but “negligently and carelessly treated and used the arm and hana of plaintift, and carelessly and negligently and wrongfully applied medicines, and bandages and other -ap- pliances to the wounds and injuries of the plaintiff; that by reason of the said negli- gence and the insufficient and detective sup- ply of medicines the plaintiff’s hand and arm became woree so that when the vessel arrived at Batavia, in the Island of Java, the same had become seriously diseased and in a highly dangerous and inflamed condition; that the master detained the plaintiff on board and wrongfully neglected and care- lessly refused to allow him and prevented him from being. treated by competent physicians and surgeons at Batavia; that subsequently upon the further prosecution of the voyage back plaintiff was disabled and unable to do duty, and without any fault or j negligence on his part, but nevertheless while so disabled and while his injuries were increasing by reason of said negligent, care- Jess and wrongful conduct of said master, the said master ordered and compelled plain tiff to perform duty asa seaman, which for the said reasons he was totally unable to per- form without great injury to his health and body, and which aggravated the said irjuries and prevented him from getting cured and causing him by the reasen of the said conduct to be mained for life.” The complaint charged that the defendant was owner and employed the master, but the answer in the defense demurred to, and, therefore, ad- mitted to be true in point of fact, averred that there were other owners, and named them. The appellant’s counsel claims that the complaint does not state a cause of action. In Parsons on Maritime Law (vol. 1,456 the law, upon the cases cited in a note, is said to be that “‘there is, by the general law mer™ chant, an. obligation upon every shipowner or master to provide for a seaman who be- comes sick or wounded or maimed in the dis. charge of his duty, whether at home or abroad, at sea or on land, if it be not by his own fault, suitable care, medicines including, nursing, diet and lodging. At first it was held shat the statute requiring a medicine chest substituted the requirement for the new general requirement of law, but it may be douted If this is so in any degree, and it seems to be settled that the general obliga- tion of the law merchant remains in force unless the medicine chest is provided with medicines and means of medical treatment which the particular case requires, and there is euffictent ekill on board to make a proper use of those medicines.”’ The master was the agent of the owners to perform the obligation that has been de- scribed. It was their duty to use through him suitable cure. If for suffielent reason he should decline or omit to treat the seaman in any active way, he might be justified in that, but he could not Jawfully treat himina negligent manner, If he did as the com plaint charges, it was negligence in an act within the scope of his employment, for which the employers, the owners, were liable. ‘This may be applied to compelling the plaintiff todo the ordinary work of a sexman when his injuries had unfitted him to do them without making his state of body worse. This would not necessarily be a wilful act; it might be inconsiderate er negligent. If it were wilful, it might still characterize an act which wags within the scope of the employment. The duty violated was not one enjoined by the contract of shipping as a seaman. It had its existence outside of that contract, and would have been the same if the defendant was a seaman with duties to the masters and éwners by virtue of a contract made with a third party. It had regard to the part of the relations of owner master and sexman. For this reason, if tor no other, the demurrer to the answer that pleaded in abatement that pleaded in abatement that there were owners beaides the defendant, and naming them, was properly sustained. Chitty in Pleading (87; gives the rule which is also given (1 Saunders, 291,) ‘‘where an action in the case brought merely for the non-feusance of a contract, and in order to support the action a contract must be proved, and is the basis of the suit (as in case for-a breach of warranty on a gail, etc.,) the joinder of too many de- fendants will be a ground of non-suit, and it should seem that if a joint contractor be not included, the defendant may: plead his non- GENERAL NEWS. hands of a new company, which proposes to absorb the old companies and start all over again. The American Shipbuilding Company hae reduced its capital stock from $750,000 to $300,000. ‘The company has a great deal of work on hand and expects several new con- contracts, William Watts, watchman of the steamer Warren, at Chattanooga, and a deck hand quarreled. Both fell into the river and were drowned. joinder in abatement, for it is not competent. for the plaintiff in such an instance to alter or obviate the rules of law with regard to the parties to be sued On a contract merely by varying the form of his action, when, in substance, it is founded on the agreement. But it must appear from the declaration that the gist of the action is a breach of contract. And with regard to carriers and innkeepers as their liability is founded on the breach of an implied common law duty of their par- ticular ‘capacities if they sued. in case for negligence no valid objection can be made in respect to the non-joinder of a party (Roberts vy. Johnson, 59 N. Y., 615) fellowed this rule.”’ In the present case the duty is applied by the law merchant, irrespeetive of the pro- visions of the shipping articles. ‘The terms of the latter, however, do not appear upon the record. The parties to the appeal have not raised the question as to whether that which is appealed from is an interlocutory judgment. From the hearing of the appeal it is not to be deemed that any opinion is implied that it is. Interlocutory judgment affirmed, with costs. Joseph A. Shoudy for appellant; George H. Hart for respondent.— Maritime Register. “THE EFFECT OF OIL. To the Editor of the Marine Record: CLEVELAND, O., February 18. I notice in your paper an article from the New York Mail entiled “Oil on the troubled waters.’ It istruea heavy swell never sunk a ship so long as the swell kept whole, but itis the broken sea that does the damage, and as I have been a sea-faring man all my life, I have had a little experience in this di- rection and I know that if you throw oil on the water where it is deep, say from eleven fathoms up, you have the desired effect. But I take from,the writer’s suggestion on tha wreck of the City of Columbus, he might just as well spit on the water as to throw oil where waves break on rocks and shoals and in such a terrible gale as raged when the Columbus was lost. For wherever there is a shoal or a reef of rocks, some two fathoms and some five, you might have .asea of oil and still the waves would break if it is blow- ing hard, for the force of the wave coming in on the shallow water rises so steep that it is bound to break. Now you must not com pare the waves you see breaking on the lake shore with the waves on the Atlantic. I might say a great deal on this subject but I will not at present. However, ene or two facts I would like to mention. I have seen many times the great mountainous waves roll in from the Atlantic from fifty to seventy feet high and break with such force on rocks and shoals, seven and ten fathoms deep, as to tear off seaweed and shell fish from the bot- tom in heaps. I have also seen these waves break on the shore at the base of cliffs five and six hundred feet high and go clear over the top of those cliffs in a white eloud. So you can have an idea what effect oil would have on those waves, SEAMAN, oe It is reported that a new boat will be put on the lake shore route. Oliver Edes, originator of the vast indus- try of machine rivet making in this country, died at his home, Plymouth, Mass., of Bright’s disease, aged sixty-nine. Commander: Goodrich leaves the Thetis, recently purchased by America for the Greely relief expedition, and takes com- mand of the Alert, the sloop of war which the English Government adds to the expedi- tion. The Thetis sails for America next week. Mr. Houseman received a letter from W. O. Hughart, president of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, also one from District Attorney Stone, ot Grand Rapids, with ref- erence to securing an appropriation for es- tablishing a breakwater at Mackinaw City. The importance of this work is clearly set forth in these two letters. Mr. Hatch will offer a bill making the desired appropriation, The principal object at present is to have the work approved by the board of engineers and operations commenced. . A meeting of the directors of. the White Star Line of boats was held in Detroit re- cently. The tollowing directors were pres- ent: Henry Howard, A. N. Moffat, C. A. Ward, of Port Huron; W. K. Muir, of De- troit, and Mark Hopkins, of St. Clair. The first three named were elected president, secretary and treasurer, respectively. ‘This company will run the Idlewild and Evening Star ‘on the river route the same as last sea- son. ‘There is some talk of building a new boat for this line but it has not assumed definite shape. ‘This much is certain that nothing will be done in that direction before next winter. Steam boilers are usually provided with a glass tube connected with the boiler in such a manner as to show the height of the water within. Being heated intensely by the wa- ter within, they frequently crack if a draught ot cold air strikes them from with- out. This may be prevented, says the In- dustrie Blatter, by using two concentric glass tubes. Between the inner and the outer tubes an elastic strata of air is impris- oned that protects the inner one trom draughts, the outer one from heated water. Both tubes are packed at each end in brass couplings that connect with the boiler, and both form but a single instrument. It is understood that Messra. Henderson Brothers have arranged to run the steamer Austral in connection with their big ship, the City of Rome, in the Liverpool service of the Anchor Line, during the coming summer season. ‘The Austral is a compara- tively new vessel, built in 1882, of 5,588 tons; her dimensions being: Length, 456 feet; breadth, 48 feet 3 inches; depth, 34 feet. She has engines of one thousand horse-power, and is expected to make the voyage between Queenstown and New York within the sev- en days, and will therefore be a fitting-con sort to the City of Rome. ‘The Austral has received an extensive overhaul and is in splendid condition. During the approaching season of naviga- tion the fleet of ocean steamers trading with Montreal will be increased, perhaps more than during any preceeding one. ‘To the fleets of the regular lines seven steamers will be added with an aggregate tonnage of 32,200. ‘The Allen line, which already has two large steamers building to be launched during the summer, has given the order for another, and the other lines with vessels or- dered are pushing the builders to get them afloat. During the summer, the Allen line will launch the Immidian, 6,100 tons; the Siberian and Carthagenian, 4,600 tons each. The Beaver line will add to their fleet the Lake Superior, 5,200 tons; and the Domin- ion line the Vancouver, ef 5,700 tons. This vessel will be an improved second edition of the Inman Line’s City ot Chieago. ‘The Thomson Line plying between Montreal and Liverpool, are getting built two steam- ers of 3,000 tons each. LOSS OF LIFE AND TREASURE, The Florida Ship canal project Is in the | Special Correspondence Marine Record. Derroir, February 25, Were it possible to drain or lay bare the western lakes the exhibit of engines which, from the beginning to the present era have gone down with their hulls, would be mar- vellous and exceed ten millions of dollars, This summary of lost machinery does not in- clude those which have been broken up, stranded or wrecked, but simply such as have disappeard and were never seen-after- ward, occasioned either by fire, foundering, or having been sunk by collision, and only in one instance stranding, which wag the steamer George Washington on Lake Erie in 1833. Of the number of such losses sixty-five were sidewheel steamers and 121 propellers or tugs, which, in a few instances, instantly disappeared by ex- plosions, and in all a total loss of 2,941 lives. Lake Michigan shows upa record by the loss vf eighteen sldewheel steamers, thirty-eight propellers and 1,037 lives, 625 of which num. ber were lost on the first named boats. Lake Erie presents an exhibit of twenty-two side- wheelers and thirty-two propellers; 846 lives from the former and 137. from the latter. Seventeen sidewheelers were lost on Lake Huron and twenty four propellers, occasicn- ing a loss of 94 lives from the former and 259 from the latter. On Lake Superior, five sidewheel and six screw boats, with a total loss of 83 lives, disappeared. ‘hose of Lake Ontario were nut so great as on the ether waters, When a comparison is drawn, being only two gidewheel losses and eleven pro- pellers, with 169 lives. ‘The lost engines on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers were oc- casioned, with one exception, by explosions. Georgian Bay, which, aside from Lake St. Clair, is the sinallest of all the other basins, being ouly 130 miles long and 55 wiles broad shows up a bad record, and ina violent gale} with the wind in the right quarter, gets up a more spiteful sea than most of the others, It is only within a reeent period that there has been much of any trsffic in that direc- tion. Yet within a very few years one side- wheel boat was engulfed in those waters, and five propellers, and 257 lives were lost, no less than 120 going down on one steamer. ‘I'wo of the most serious casualties occuring on Lake Michigan, was the burning of the propeller Phoenix in 1846 with 190 lives, and the sinking of the Lady Elgin in September, 1860, with 388 lives. .Lake Erie occupies a prominent place for noted disasters and had more of a like character than any of the others, having been earlier travereed. The record shows that on this lake occurred the first explosion and the most alarming fires, twoof which can rarely be found on record; The fine steamer Erie, August 4, 1841, was enveloped suddenly in flames, off Silver Creek, and in a few moments 250 lives had passed out of time, meeting the most horrible of deaths. ‘The steamer G. P* Griffith met a like fate off Chagrin, June, 1850, and inside the space of twenty minutes 325 lives had succumbed to the fiery demon. J.W.H. UNSUBMERGABLE LIFEBOAT. Special Correspondence of the Marine Record. Burrato, February 25. D. P. Dobbins, superintendent of this lite saving district, sent last week to the Shark river life saving station, on the coast of New Jersey, a very handsome new lifeboat 24 feet long, 614 feet beam, 2 feet 2 inches deep, fitted for carrying twenty-six persons re- gardless of the weather. She is sharp at both ends, and is an unsubmergable, self- righting and selfsbailing boat. Her hull weighs 1,060 pounds. She is ballasted with 450 pounds of cork which fills her entire hold. Her turtle-back air cases at each end are fitted for the conveyance of invalids, women or children free from exposure in stormy weather. She was built by Wm. Hingston & Son, yacht and beat builders, Buffalo, trom designs by D. P, Dobbins. Superintendent Dobbins intends to have similar lifeboats built for the life saving sta- tions in his district, which comprises Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the Ohio river. TW: The Merrison bill, ag it now stands, puts iron ore on the free list. There is high au- thority for the statemeny that the committee will withdraw fron ore trom the free list and subject the article to the horizontal re- duction of twenty per cent applied to the metal schedule.