Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. v. The Lehigh

12 F. Supp. 75, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1295
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedAugust 15, 1935
DocketNos. 1913, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 12 F. Supp. 75 (Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. v. The Lehigh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. v. The Lehigh, 12 F. Supp. 75, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1295 (W.D.N.Y. 1935).

Opinion

RIPPEY, District Judge.

This action arises out of a collision between the steamer Lehigh and the barge Loretta in the vicinity of the entrance to Detroit river .at about 12:30 on the morning of September 27, 1933. The Loretta was sunk and was a total loss, and her car[77]*77go was a partial loss. Libels were filed against the Lehigh by Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc., a New York state corporation, owner of the Loretta, to recover damages for her loss, and by the Grasselli Chemical Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation, owner of the cargo, for damages for its loss. The steam tug Ballenas, owned by Steam Tug Ballenas, Inc., and her operators, the W. E. Hedger Transportation Corporation, New York state corporations, were impleaded in each of the actions under petitions by the owners of the Lehigh, under Admiralty Rule 56 (28 USCA following section 723). The Lehigh was owned and operated by the Bethlehem Transportation Corporation, incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware.

The Detroit River Light is located at the juncture of two prepared channels leading from Lake Erie to the main channel of the Detroit river. The east channel, about 400 feet wide, is used exclusively for up-bound heavily loaded boats, and extends southeasterly from the Detroit River Light at an angle of about 12° a distance of 2Vie miles. At the southerly entrance to this channel is located a flashing red gas buoy. All upbound vessels from points on Lake Erie converge at the entrance to this channel and thence pass northerly to the Detroit River Light and thence up the Detroit river into Lake St. Clair. All heavily loaded upbound boats must use this prepared channel, while vessels running light may use the shallower water of the lake to the 'east or west. The west channel is' used exclusively for heavily loaded downbound boats which must use it to keep from grounding in the shallow water at its sides. It extends southwesterly from the Detroit River Light at an angle of approximately 12° a distance of some 3% miles. At the southerly exit are located buoys, from which vessels diverge on courses leading to Lake Erie ports. The distance from a point on a line due south of the gas buoy at the entrance to the upbound channel at right angles due west to the exit of the downbound channel is about 1% miles, while the distance between the entrance to the upbound channel and the exit of the downbound channel is approximately 2y$ miles.

At midnight, September 23, 1933, at Buffalo, N. Y., the steam tug Ballenas took four barges in tow in tandem formation bound for the Grasselli Chemical plant on the Detroit river. They were ordinary wooden canal barges and had been brought from New York City loaded with sulphur via the Barge Canal. After a continuous voyage without previous anchorage or change of order or of arrangement or equipment of the tow, she arrived at the vicinity of the entrance to the upbound channel leading to the Detroit river about 8 p. m. on the night of September 26th. The night was dark, it was raining, there was a strong wind from the southwest and heavy seas were running. To take the barges up the channel, it was necessary to haul in the hawsers and bring the barges close together. Attempting this maneuver, the captain was able to shorten the hawser between the tug and the first barge, but found the conditions of weather and sea made it unsafe to proceed further, and decided to anchor temporarily, until the wind and sea subsided. Each barge had an anchor, but it was not used. Only the tug’s anchor was out. As anchored, the vessels were arranged in the following order: (1) the tug Ballenas, 155 feet in length; (2) 75 feet astern of the tug, the barge American Transport; (3) 700 feet further astern, the barge Loretta; (4) 700 feet further astern, the barge David Foster; and (5) 700 feet further astern, the barge American Scout. Each barge was from 110 to 120 feet in length, and the entire length of the tow from the tug to the ‘stern of the last barge was approximately 2,770 feet. ' • '

As thus anchored, the tüg was'located at a point about 4,000 feet southwesterly of the red gas buoy at the channel entrance, and the tail end of the tow about 2,000 feet to the northeast of the buoy... The string of vessels headed southwesterly and tailed northeasterly.

All witnesses (except the mate on the tug) agree, and I find that the tug and tow lay at anchor across the entrance to the river channel about half a mile out in the lake and directly across the course regularly followed by upbound vessels navigating between Lake Erie ports and Detroit. They do not agree as to the location of the Loretta relative to the gas buoy at the time she was struck by the Lehigh. Lighthouse Bulletin No. 31, published by the United States Department of Commerce Lighthouse Service under date of September 29, 1933, describes the wreck of the Loretta as lying in 26 feet of water 13,600 feet 1591/2“ from the Detroit River Light. This would indicate that the wreck was located about [78]*782,600 feet from the gas buoy. The captain of the tug located her before the collision at about 1,200 feet to the eastward of that spot, while the officers of the Pegassus place her at about the same distance, nearer the flash-light. The captain of the tug testified that after the Loretta was struck, the tug and remaining barges were out of line some 1,200 feet. The evidence is clear that the Lehigh was moving very slowly at the time of the collision, and continued to move very slowly forward until the Loretta sank a minute or a minute and a half afterward, and the Loretta could not have been pushed far northerly from her anchorage until she went down. From all the evidence, I find that the Loretta lay at anchor before the collision almost directly in front of the entrance to the river channel and approximately 2,600 feet southeasterly of the gas buoy at its entrance.

The master of the Ballenas knew the tug and tow were lying across the entrance to the channel and across the course of up-bound boats. He expected to remain at anchorage temporarily only, until the wind and sea subsided. Conditions became no better, however, and he remained there all night. Had he anticipated that. weather and sea would continue bad he would have anchored at the lee of Middle Sister Island, some twelve miles to the east, or would have anchored to the south of the entrance, out of the course of both up-bound and downbound vessels, where there was plenty of room. He made no change in his lights. At no time did he display anchor lights either on the tug or barges. During the four hours preceding the collision and while at anchor, the Ballenas displayed two white headlights on the forward mast six feet or more apart vertically, indicating she had a tow; a range light on the after spar and two regular colored running lights, red on her port side and green on her starboard side, while each of the barges displayed colored running lights, red on the port side and green on the starboard. The two stern barges displayed a white light hung on a spar aft above the cabin about 20 feet above the deck. The lights on the tug were all electric; those on the barges were oil lamps or lanterns, and similar to those carried on barges in the New York State Barge Canal. The white lights on the barges were not, however, of sufficient intensity and brightness to be seen by a person of ordinary vision, without the aid of marine glasses, over half a mile. Their dullness is probably accounted for by the fact that they were ordinary lanterns without an inside globe or chimney set over the light to protect it from the wind and to prevent smoking, as is ordinarily used on barges on the Great Lakes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
12 F. Supp. 75, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ira-s-bushey-sons-inc-v-the-lehigh-nywd-1935.