The Morning Star

17 F. Cas. 773, 4 Biss. 62
CourtDistrict Court, D. Indiana
DecidedMay 15, 1866
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 17 F. Cas. 773 (The Morning Star) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Morning Star, 17 F. Cas. 773, 4 Biss. 62 (indianad 1866).

Opinion

McDONALD, District Judge.

This is a proceeding to recover for a steamboat collision on the river Ohio. John Cobb, the libellant, charges that on the 31st of October, 1864, he was the owner of the steamer Orescent City engaged in the carrying trade on the rivers Ohio and Mississippi; that while in .that business, and while his boat was being landed at Dixon’s Bend, about three miles below the city of Evansville, the steamer Morning Star collided with the Crescent City, damaging her to the amount of eight thousand five hundred dollars; and that this collision was occasioned by the negligence of the managers of the Morning Star.

Zachariah Shirley, the president, and Joseph H. Bruce, the superintendent, of the Louisville and Evansville United States Mail Line Company, intervene for themselves and for the owners of the Morning Star, and answer, admitting the collision, but denying the negligence charged, and averring that the collision was caused solely by the negligence of the persons in charge of the Crescent City, and claiming that damage done to the Morning Star by that collision ought to be adjudged against the libellant.

The evidence in the cause is very voluminous, and, in several points, very conflicting. I gather from it the following facts:

On the night of October the 30th, 1864, both the boats lay at the Evansville wharf. Both were bound on voyages down the Ohio. The Crescent City had in tow four or five hay and coal boats. At about five and a half o’clock next morning, she pursued her way down the river about three miles into Dixon’s Bend, where, discovering before her a heavy fog, she stopped her wheels preparatory to landing on the Kentucky side. She had been running about seven miles an hour.

Soon after her departure from Evansville, the Morning Star also followed, running about twelve miles an hour, and overtook the Crescent City about three miles below Evansville. The Crescent City was built for a tow-boat; the Morning Star was a very swift passenger boat. Each was duly licensed, — the one as a tow-boat the other as a passenger boat.

From the time the boats left Evansville till the collision, no person on either boat saw the other boat till a moment before the accident. The morning was clear and fine. There was little fog on the river above the place of the collision. Both boats had a full complement of officers and men. Neither of them sounded a fog whistle before the collision. Neither of them had a stem lookout. On the Crescent City, Brasher, the pilot, was at his proper place, and Bush, the captain, was standing on the deck just before the pilot-house, both keeping a careful observation ahead. On the Morning Star, the pilot, Daulley, was the only lookout, and was at his proper place. It was at that hour the turn for Barr, the mate, to keep a lookout ahead; and on leaving Evansville he took his proper place for that purpose; but sometime before the collision he abandoned his post, went into the texas, and remained there till the accident happened.

[774]*774The hank of fog in Dixon’s Bend could plainly have been seen by the lookouts on each boat when they were from a quarter to a half mile above it. At the time of the collision, the Orescent City had been floating with her wheels stopped, in the upper edge of this bank of fog, about five minutes, and was in tile usual channel, about one hundred feet from the Kentucky shore. At the moment of collision, the proper officer was just about to ring up the hands to land her. The river at that point was about a half mile wide, and the channel about three hundred yards wide. The Morning Star, without checking her speed, ran into this bank of fog; and at the moment of doing so, her pilot discovered the Crescent City just ahead, and instantly rang his bell to stop; but it was too late. The ringing and the collision were nearly simultaneous. The Morning Star struck the Crescent City with great force, five or six feet forward of the stern-post on the starboard side, carrying away the after-guard, staving in the hull a few inches above the water some twenty feet in length, carrying away the water-wheel beam, plummer block, gallows frame, and starboard wheel, and was checked up on the after end of the cylinder timbers. The disabled boat was immediately landed on the Kentucky shore, and the Morning Star, after pausing a few minutes, pursued her way down the river. Both boats were somewhat injured by the collision; but the injury to the Crescent City was far the greater.

I think that the evidence satisfactorily establishes all the foregoing, facts. And from them two inquiries arise, namely: Did any fault on the part of the managers of the Morning Star directly contribute to the collision? Did any fault of those on board of the Crescent City directly contribute to it?

I. As to the Morning Star: We have seen that, though the Morning Star, in passing from Evansville to the place of the collision, must have been most of the time in sight of the Crescent City, and a part of the time very near her, yet no person on the former boat saw the latter that morning till a moment before the accident. How shall we account for this remarkable fact? The morning was bright. Daylight had dawned when the first boat rounded out from the Evansville wharf. There was scarcely any fog between that wharf and the place of the disaster. The river there is straight enough to give an unobstructed view in most places through a distance of a mile. At the sharpest bend there, the view of the channel is. unobstructed for at least a quarter of a mile. The Crescent City was not in the fog over five minutes. The collision occurred about sunrise. In view of these facts, it seems to me certain that if any lookout on the Morning Star had diligently watched ahead, he must have seen the Crescent City nearly all the way down till she entered the fog bank. For a portion of the way, the boats, while yet both in a clear atmosphere, must have been in close proximity. To me it is evident that the only possible reason why the Crescent City was not seen, before she entered the fog, by the pilot of the Morning Star, is that he omitted properly to look ahead. If he had looked before him, he would undoubtedly have seen the Crescent City, and have avoided the disaster. The omission to do so was gross negligence, and contributed directly to the collision.

Now, it is clear that at the time of this collision, and for sometime before, the only lookout on the Morning Star was the pilot, Daul-ley. The captain, Bruce, was in bed, asleep. Barr, the mate, whose duty it was to be on the lookout, tells us himself that he “went into the texas when the boat got straightened down the river between the wharf-boat and the mouth of Pigeon creek.” He “went in to change his boots.” He left no one to watch in his place. He remained in the texas till the collision. He says he was in the texas before the accident while his boat ran half a mile; and I think-the evidence shows it is a good deal more than half a mile from the mouth of Pigeon creek to the place of the collision-; it is probably more than two miles. All this time he was neglecting his duty; and this neglect was manifestly a proximate cause of the disaster. ■

But even if Daulley and Barr had both been at their proper places and keeping a vigilant lookout, I think the Morning Star is chargeable with gross negligence in plunging into the fog bank at the speed at which she did, without giving any notice of her approach. The counsel for the respondents insists that the Crescent City was enveloped in dense, impenetrable fog; and so many of the witnesses swear.

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Bluebook (online)
17 F. Cas. 773, 4 Biss. 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-morning-star-indianad-1866.