The Catalina

105 F. 633, 44 C.C.A. 638, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4037
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedDecember 18, 1900
DocketNo. 963
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 105 F. 633 (The Catalina) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Catalina, 105 F. 633, 44 C.C.A. 638, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4037 (5th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge.

This is a libel for salvage, and the appellants have brought the case to this court complaining of the amount awarded. It appears that on or about November 15,1899, the Spanish steamship Catalina, a large, well-appointed steamship, of the value of [634]*634about $200,000, left the port of Barcelona, with a general cargo for sundry ports in Canary Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico, and, having discharged the last of her cargo at Tampico, left that port in ballast for the port of New Orleans. While on her course, some 80 or 90 miles off Southwest Pass, her shaft broke, thus disabling her as a steam vessel. The shaft and propeller were secured, and the Catalina undertook to proceed, directing her course' more to the eastward, towards the usual course of vessels plying between the ports of New Orleans and Cuba and Central America. The weather and sea were calm, and the wind light. On the 12th of January the wind died down, and the Catalina was temporarily becalmed; and when in latitude 28° 8' N., and longitude 88° 39' W., at a distance of about 60 miles south of east from South Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi river, at about 9:30 p. m., she sighted, at a distance of about 7 miles, the steamship Olympia, a steam vessel of about the value of $75,000, bound in ballast from the port of New Orleans to Port Limón, Costa Rica. The Catalina signaled with Bengal lights. The Olympia changed her course slightly to meet her, and when at the distance of about 3 miles answered the- signals. The Olympia then approached within about 1,000 yards of the Catalina, and the master and first officer of the Catalina went aboard in a boat,, and asked the captain of the Olympia to tow the Catalina to the mouth of the Mississippi river. Thereupon, after a consultation between the master of the Olympia and his officers, an agreement was made and reduced to writing as follows, to wit:

“United Fruit Company Steamship Lines. Steamship Olympia. At Sea.
“Thurs., Jan. 12th, 1900, at 10:45 p. m.
“Position: S., 28° E., — 60 miles from South Pass Light Vessel.
“It is hereby agreed between Captain Higinio Andraca, of the S. S. Catalina, now disabled, and Captain Edmund J. Seiders, of S. S. Olympia, that the latter tow the former to a safe anchorage at the mouth of the Mississippi river (South Pass). All renumeration (remuneration) for this service to be decided by arbitration in New Orleans. The arbitrators to be selected in part by the managers of the United Fruit Company, and in part by those representing the owners of the disabled ship. '
“[Signed] Higinio Andraca.
“[Signed] E. J. Seiders.
“Witness: [Signed] W. S. Amoss, Purser Olympia.”

Thereupon, the Olympia coming within the distance of about 300 yards from the Catalina, a hawser of the Catalina was carried aboard by the crew of the Catalina, made fast on the Olympia, and the towage service commenced. The weather was calm and pleasant, the sea also, and the towage service went on without incident until about 12:45 p. m. of the 13th of January, when, near South Pass, the Olympia stopped to take on pilots, and then, starting abruptly, the hawser parted. Thereupon the Catalina furnished another hawser, delivered it aboard the Olympia, and the towing proceeded until about 2 p. m., when the Catalina was left in a condition of safety at South Pass, and the Olympia resumed her voyage; having been detained by the services rendered to the Catalina from 22 to 24 hours.

It seems that the stipulation for arbitration was abandoned, and [635]*635the libel in this case was filed. There is very little, if any, conflict in the evidence. The judge of the lower court rendered the following “Reasons for Judgment”:

“This canso having been submitted on the evidence, and after arguments of counsel, the court finds: The court thinks this is clearly a case of salvage. The steamer had broken her shaft, and was without sufficient sails to make steering way; and in the month of January, in the Gulf of Mexico, in that condition, she was in need of assistance. She was in distress. She so signaled, and received the necessary aid. The late Judge Billings, in the case of The Delhonde, very properly says that a vessel in the- Gulf of Mexico with a broken shaft or propeller is at the mercy of the elements, because the Gulf of Mexico is a dangerous water. It is true that both of the vessels in this case were in ballast and without passengers, and that there was no evidence of immediate or imminent peril. There was little or no immediate danger to the officers or crew of either of the vessels. Had there been, the award in this case would necessarily have been much larger. The award, In view of the value of the salved property ($200,000), is not large, and its payment will not be onerous upon the owner of the steamer; yet the amount given will be sufficient to accomplish the purpose in such cases, to wit, to cause the officers and crews of salving vessels or any other mariners to go promptly and eagerly to the rescue of any vessel so disabled in future. The court awards $0,000 to the salvors, one-third of this amount to the officers and crew, in proportion to their wages, and the balance to the owners of the vessel.”

On this decree the following errors are assigned:

“(1) The court erred in holding that the services herein were salvage services. (2) That the court erred in allowing libelants more than a liberal compensation pro opere et labore; that the amount fixed as compensation for the services performed by libelants, six thousand dollars, is more than ten times the actual value of the services estimated pro operé et labore, and six times more than the value of such services considered and valued as salvage services.”

The Catalina was disabled in the open Gulf beyond any temporary repairs that could be made upon her machinery, out of reach of ordinary towing vessels whose help she needed, and, while in no immediate or proximate danger, was in need of outside assistance to reach port. To have trusted to her sails would have been to incur needless delay and danger, and risks from possible, if not probable, changes in the weather. We may say here, as we said of the Dupuy de Lome with her broken propeller-shaft (Compagine Commerciale de Transport a Vapeur Francaise v. Charente S. S. Co., 9 C. C. A. 292, 60 Fed. 921): This ship “was so far disabled as to be in need of assistance to enable her to complete her voyage, and, although not in immediate peril, was so in distress as to justify the use of the word ‘salvage’ in designating the aid she required.” The first assignment of error is therefore not well taken.

In The Rita, 10 C. C. A. 629, 632, 62 Fed. 761, 763, this court dedared in regard to salvage principles as follows:

“ ‘Salvage, in its simple character, Is the service which volunteer adventurers spontaneously render to the owners in the recovery of property from loss or damage at sea, under the responsibility of making restitution, and with a lien for their reward.’ Macl. Shipp. G08. ‘Salvage is the compensation due to persons by whose voluntary assistance a ship or Its lading has been saved to the owner from impending peril, or recovered after actual loss.’ Ben. Adm. § 300. ‘Salvage consists of an adequate compensation for [636]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Squires v. the Ionian Leader
100 F. Supp. 829 (D. New Jersey, 1951)
Higgins, Inc. v. the Tri-State
99 F. Supp. 694 (S.D. Florida, 1951)
Crescent Towing & Salvage Co. v. The MV 117
87 F. Supp. 257 (E.D. Louisiana, 1949)
The South American
19 F.2d 394 (S.D. Georgia, 1927)
The Truxillo
9 F.2d 172 (E.D. Louisiana, 1925)
Lafayette Shipping Corp. v. Richards
298 F. 27 (Fifth Circuit, 1924)
Texas Co. v. Texas & Gulf S. S. Co.
263 F. 868 (Fifth Circuit, 1920)
The Santurce
136 F. 682 (S.D. New York, 1905)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 F. 633, 44 C.C.A. 638, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4037, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-catalina-ca5-1900.