The Cuzco

154 F. 177, 83 C.C.A. 181, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 30, 1907
DocketNo. 217
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 154 F. 177 (The Cuzco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Cuzco, 154 F. 177, 83 C.C.A. 181, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509 (2d Cir. 1907).

Opinion

EACOMBE, Circuit Judge.

We recently had occasion to consider the subject of a shipmaster’s duty when a member of his crew is injured while the vessel is at sea or remote from medical aid. Greco v. The Sarnia, 147 Fed. 106, 77 C. C. A. 332. That case, however, [178]*178differs from the one at bar because medical advice was procurable as quickly by going forward as by deviating.

The situation of the vessel’ at the time libelant sustained his -injury was as follows: She was bound from New York to Valparaiso, Callas, and other west coast South American ports, through the .Straits of Magellan. Her first stop was Punta Arenas, located in the Straits 130 miles from the eastern entrance. Her next stop was to be at Coronel, on the west coast to the north of the Straits. At the time the accident happened, the Cuzco lay at anchor at Portescue Bay, 70 miles beyond Punta Arenas, and 120 miles from the western entrance; Coronel being distant about five days sailing. Two days sailing apparently would carry her out of the Straits. ' A note on the chart says:

“In proceeding into tiie Pacific, ships should not attempt to clear the Strait in one day from Port Gallant [the head of Portescue Bay], but endeavor to get into Playa Parda or Port Tamar before dark. 9 * * As the W. and S. W. gales come on very suddenly and without warning, it is impossible to run back and find an anchorage during a dark night.”

The master had anchored owing to bad weather — a snowstorm the previous day and during that night. The passage through the Straits is manifestly more perilous for a steamer than navigation in the open ocean, and was a risk undoubtedly considered when the voyage was provided for. A significant “caution” is printed on the chart:

“As there has been no complete survey of Magellan Strait, the navigator is cautioned that, although this chart may be considered a sufficient guide by daylight, he must not too implicitly trust in it during thick weather, as in some few instances the bearings from headland to headland are not strictly accurate.”

It should be borne in mind that when the master was called upon to decide whether he should go on or turn back with the libelant, and thus add 140 more miles of dangerous navigation to the risks of the adventure, he had to take into consideration all the various interests which were committed to his charge. Pie was called upon to exercise sound judgment, not indeed on a question of pure seamanship, but on a question which involved maritime knowledge. A deviation for the purpose of succoring the distressed has been held not to release underwriters of ship or cargo who have insured for a specified voyage, but “to make such excuse valid and effectual it must without doubt be shown that there was a real necessity for the departure of the vessel from her proper course. The exigency which demands relief must be equal in importance to the intervention which is required in its behalf.” Perkins v. Augusta Ins. & B. Co., 76 Mass. 312, 71 Am. Dec. 654. Arnould expresses the rule thus:

“The state of circumstances must be such as to leave the master no alternative, as a reasonable and prudent man, exercising a sound Judgment, and ■acting for the best interests of all concerned, but to depart from or delay the usual course of the voyage.” Marine Insurance (6th Ed.) vol. 1, p. 501.

This is, perhaps, rather strongly expressed, but there can be no ■doubt that, when the deviation adds substantially to the risks of the voyage, there must be s'ome substantial exigency to justify it; there must be reasonable ground to believe that consequences more serious [179]*179than the mere pain and suffering which ordinarily attend the smaller catastrophies of a seaman’s life are to be expected. When sitting in review, therefore, of the conclusion of the master reached on the morning of the accident, we should not lose sight of the fact that he had charge of a valuable ship and cargo, presumably insured under policies-of the terms of which he was ignorant. Moreover, it is the decision made on that particular morning which is under review. By the next day the Cuzco would be so near the western outlet of the Straits that no one would contend that she should turn back for Punta Arenas through that imperfectly charted waterway, where snow or thick weather for two days (it was the winter season) might so delay her that she might reach that port no sooner than she might reach Coronel if she kept on.

Before discussing the facts, it may be convenient to review the-authorities, so as to see what circumstances have been held sufficient to call for a deviation b)r the master in order to succor or relieve a member of the crew. While the-Iroquois was rounding Cape Horn, libelant accidentally fell from the main yard to the deck, fracturing two ribs and his right leg in two places. The master with the aid of the carpenter set the leg in splints, kept the libelant in his berth, and after five weeks removed the splints, aqd found the leg apparently in good condition. Before arriving at San Francisco he was able to leave his berth, go on deck, and walk about with the aid of a crutch. But after arrival there it was found that, while his ribs had healed perfectly, the bones of his leg had not united, and amputation became necessary. It was held that the master should have put into Valparaiso, which would have caused five or six days’ detention. In the course of the opinion it is suggested that each case depends so largely upon its own particular facts that the rule laid down in one may afford little or no aid in determining another. The court is bound, as far as possible, to put itself in the master’s place, and inquire whether, in view of all the circumstances, he was bound to put into an intermediate port. “A seafaring life,” says the court, “is a dangerous one; accidents of this kind are peculiarly likely to occur, and the general principle of law that a person entering a dangerous employment is regarded as assuming the ordinary risks of such employment is peculiarly applicable to the case of seamen.” The Iroquois, 194 U. S. 240, 24 Sup. Ct. 640, 48 L. Ed. 955. In Brown v. Overton, 1 Spr. 462, Fed. Cas. No. 2,024, a seaman fell from aloft and broke both legs. The vessel was bound from Calcutta to Boston. Twenty-five days later she made Si. Helena, distant above 40 miles, and it was held that she should have landed him there. In Peterson v. The Chandos (D. C.) 4 Fed. 645, libelant fell from aloft and broke his thigh bone; he also broke his collar bone and received a severe cut in the head. The master did not discover that the thigh bone was broken until some weeks after the accident. It was held that, if the ship could have made a port in five or six days, the master should have done so. In Olsen v. The Scotland (D. C.) 42 Fed. 925, there was no question of’ deviation. Eibelant fell from the ladder when coming aboard at Antwerp, where he shipped. He notified the captain a few hours later, and the ship was held because when the vessel reached ■ Flush[180]*180ing, where she lay two days, no medical advice was obtained. In Whitney v. Olsen, 108 Fed. 292, 47 C. C. A. 331, the mate of a fishing schooner was struck by the main boom, and his leg broken in two places.' There was no one on board competent to treat such an injury. “There was no cargo on board, no danger of loss or damage on that account, the wind was fair and favorable, no peril to the ship,” and it was held he should have gone to Port Townsend, 500 miles distant. In The Troop (D.

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Bluebook (online)
154 F. 177, 83 C.C.A. 181, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-cuzco-ca2-1907.