Seaboard Tug & Barge, Inc. v. The Lia

113 F. Supp. 793, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2654
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedJune 16, 1953
DocketNos. 50-69, 53-17-F
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 113 F. Supp. 793 (Seaboard Tug & Barge, Inc. v. The Lia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seaboard Tug & Barge, Inc. v. The Lia, 113 F. Supp. 793, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2654 (D. Mass. 1953).

Opinion

FORD, District Judge.

Findings of Fact.

1. On August 9, 1950, the tug Seaboard, a craft some 60 feet long, of 41 gross tons, with the barge Arco No. 5, some 130 feet long, left the plant of the Cities Service Oil Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, at about 6:15 p. m. Both vessels were owned by Seaboard Tug and Barge, Inc. The barge was loaded with a cargo of over 5,000 barrels of fuel oil which was to be delivered to the dock of the White Fuel Company in Boston Harbor.

2. The tug was pushing ahead of it the barge, which was made fast to it by two lines leading from the bow of the tug, one to a bitt on the port after-corner of the barge and the other to a bitt on its starboard after-corner, with two additional lines, one from each of the stern bitts of the barge leading respectively to the port and starboard quarters of the tug and then to the tug’s stern bitts, so that the barge and tug operated together as a single unit.

3. This unit proceeded toward Boston Harbor and at about 8:25 p. m. was about to enter the main channel from the Western Way, in the vicinity of Buoy 3.

4. Sunset was about 8 p. m. on that night. The lights on the 'barge and tugboat had been turned on at about that time, before the unit reached Buoy 3. The tug had a white light on its bow, a red light on the port side and a green light on the starboard side, both on top of the pilothouse. Forgeron, master of the tug, testified that the tug had two white lights on the aftermast, and that the barge had had a white bow light and similar red and green lights on top of the house on the barge, which was about 100 feet back from the bow. The pilot of the Lia denies seeing two white lights on the tug, or any light at all on the barge except a light which was in the house.

5. The crew of the barge-tug unit consisted of the master, Forgeron, who was navigating the unit from the pilothouse of the tug, and two deck hands who were in [794]*794the house on the barge, one of them standing at a window facing the front of the barge and acting as lookout.

6. The Motor Vessel Lia, owned and operated by Rederi AB/Disa, left its berth at the Army Base, Reserved Channel, at about 8:15 p. m. on the same evening. Under the control of a coast pilot, Ward-law, it backed from the pier and maneuvered by backing and filling until it was properly headed to enter and proceed down the main channel.

7. On the same evening, the Grifone, carrying a load of lumber, came up the main channel to a place of anchorage off Bird Island Flats. As the tug-barge unit approached Buoy 3, Forgeron saw the Grifone about a half mile down channel. Forgeron maneuvered his unit into’ the main channel at Buoy 3. The Grifone passed him on the opposite side of the channel while the tug-barge unit was still at Buoy 3. Forgeron then continued up the main channel from Buoy 3 on the southerly side, that is, on his port side.

8. The Grifone passed the Lia while it was still engaged in its turning maneuver before entering the main channel. Pilot Wardlaw halted the maneuver until the Grifone had passed and then completed the turn and brought the Lia into the main channel.

9. At about 8:29 p. m. when the Lia had been brought into the main channel, pilot Wardlaw turned the vessel over to Holmes, the harbor pilot, who proceeded to take it down the channel on the south side, the engines being ordered to full speed ahead. The top speed of the Lia was 16 or 17 knots, but of course it was only gradually picking up speed during the next four minutes. No exact evidence was offered as to the speed it had attained by 8:33, but the estimate of pilot Holmes that it had reached a speed of 6 or 7 knots seems to be reasonably accurate.

10. The Seaboard with its barge was proceeding up the south side of the channel at its maximum speed of 3% knots. Its destination was the White Fuel Company, whose place of business was in the Reserve Channel to the south side of the main channel. Forgeron observed the Lia approaching, slowed his speed somewhat, gave a signal of two blasts of the whistle to indicate a starboard to starboard passing, and changed his course to the left.

11. Holmes on the Lia saw the tug approaching, showing only its white and red lights. He saw no lights on the barge at this point and later, just before the collision, only one white light in a cubby hole on the rear end of the barge. Fie heard the two-blast signal, and asked the master of the vessel, and pilot Wardlaw, who were on the bridge, if the signal had been twO' blasts. They replied that it was only one. Holmes then signalled the engines to stop at 8:33 p. m.

12. As the vessels neared each other,, shortly before the collision, Forgeron gave a second two-blast signal, then stopped and reversed his engines, giving a three-blast signal followed by a four-blast danger signal. He, at the same time, changed his. course sharply to port.

13. Holmes heard the second two-blast signal, saw the tug and barge directly in. front of him moving across his bow, gave a four-blast signal and ordered his engines full astern at 8:34 p. m. (A full speed ahead signal was given before this but immediately countermanded before it could be executed.)

14. Within a fraction of a minute thereafter, the two vessels collided, the bow of the Lia hitting the barge at a point on the starboard side of the barge about six feet back from the starboard forward corner. The collision occurred at'a point just north of Buoy 3A. The force of the impact-broke the barge loose from the tug, and it later sank after being towed to Castle Island Pier. The Lia after the collision continued down the channel for some distance before stopping, having the tug and barge on its starboard as it passed the site of the collision.

15. The collision occurred about an hour before high tide. The night was clear, with visibility extending for several miles. There was no evidence that any vessels wére in the main channel near the time of the collision except the Grifone and those involved in the collision.

[795]*795Discussion

The tug-barge unit was concededly on its port side of the channel, a seemingly convenient position to take in the light of its destination, and this fact is the basic underlying cause of the collision. The tug was, therefore, at fault in failing to keep to its right in a narrow channel, Art. 25, Navigation Rules for Harbors, Rivers and Inland Waters Generally, 33 U.S.C.A. § 210, unless special circumstances justified a departure from the rule under Art. 27 of the •same rules, 33 U.S.C.A. § 212. Libelant Seaboard Tug and Barge, Inc., argues that Forgeron was justified in keeping to the left of the channel because when he first entered the channel he could not have •crossed to the right side without running into danger by crossing the bow of the •oncoming Grifone, and thereafter could not cross without like danger from crossing ahead of the Lia. This argument must be rejected. The tug-barge unit was still at Buoy 3 when the Grifone passed and the Lia had not yet entered the channel and in fact did not complete its maneuvering until the Grifone had passed it over half a mile up channel. Between the passage of the Grifone, whose presence the two crew members did not even see, and the arrival of the Lia there was ample time for even the slow moving hard-to-maneuver tug-barge unit to cross to the proper side of the channel. It had in fact time to move about 200 yards up channel before it sighted the Lia, and about 600 yards before reaching the spot of the collision.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
113 F. Supp. 793, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seaboard-tug-barge-inc-v-the-lia-mad-1953.