The Rickmers

142 F. 305, 73 C.C.A. 415, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 4109
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 6, 1905
DocketNo. 1,149
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 142 F. 305 (The Rickmers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Rickmers, 142 F. 305, 73 C.C.A. 415, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 4109 (9th Cir. 1905).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts). We agree with the court below that the Stimson was without fault. She was riding securely at anchor at the time of the collision, the regulation anchor light was set, and a vigilant watch was kept on board the vessel.

The Rickmers, insecurely anchored, a little more than half a mile to windward, broke from her moorings and drifted down upon the Stimson, causing the injuries described in the libel. The first attempt of the Rickmers to anchor in 14 fathoms of water with 40 fathoms of chain was a failure, resulting in the splitting of the compressor block, the running out of chain, and the drifting of the vessel into such dangerous proximity with the Corona that a collision with that vessel was imminent. The Rickmers was then towed back to nearly her former position, but 10 or 15 fathoms further in shore. The master of the vessel testified that this second position was too near the other ships, and he had no room in which to slack more chain. If the attempt to anchor in 14 fathoms of water with 40 fathoms of chain to the port anchor was a failure, what was to be expected from an anchorage in the immediate vicinity, but 10 or 15 fathoms further in shore, with 30 fathoms of chain to the starboard anchor? Manifestly, the vessel required more room and more chain; she was not anchored in a safe place. It may be contended, however, that in the second position the vessel had two anchors down, the port anchor with 40 fathoms, and the starboard anchor with 30 fathoms. The vessel was headed south, with the shore on her port side. Her first anchorage was with her port anchor. Pier second anchorage was 10 or 15 fathoms- further in shore, and she then dropped her starboard anchor. If her port anchor was holding at this time, it was on her starboard side, and her starboard anchor must have been dropped at or near the same place, giving no spread to her anchors, if both were holding. But the officers of the vessel had no knowledge of the condition of the port anchor, or whether it was holding or not. It had not been sighted since the bark drifted down upon the Corona, [309]*309a distance of more than 800 feet. The vessel had been towed back to her second position either dragging this anchor or hauling slack chain over it. In either event there was not the slightest evidence that it was brought into actual use, while the presumption is that it was not, for the starboard anchor was immediately dropped when the vessel reached the intended anchorage position. The testimony that the chain of the port anchor was hauled in until there was no slack is of no value, since the chain to this anchor broke and the anchor was lost, and no one on board was able to state when this accident occurred. They did not know the port anchor was gone until the next morning, when they hauled in the chain, and found that the anchor, with 10 fathoms of chain, had been lost.

In our opinion, the testimony establishes the fault of the Rickmers beyond question. Her fault consisted: (1) in a want of good seamanship in anchoring the second time in the immediate vicinity of the first anchorage, which had proven insecure, and so close to the other vessels that a sufficient length of chain could not be given to her starboard anchor to secure a holding; (3) in not getting sight of her port anchor so as to ascertain its condition before the second anchorage; and (3) in not paying out more cable to both anchors (assuming that the port anchor was holding), and securing a greater spread for her anchors. For these faults, contributing to the collision with the Stimson, the Rickmers is liable for the damages sustained by the Stimson. The question of damages appears to be the main controversy involved in the case.

“Restitutio in integrum” is the rule of damages in collision cases, and, where repairs are practicable, the general rule followed by admiralty courts in such cases is that the damages assessed against the respondent shall be sufficient to restore the injured vessel to the condition in which she was at the time the collision occurred. The Baltimore, 8 Wall, 377, 385, 19 L. Ed. 463; The Atlas, 93 U. S. 302, 307, 23 L. Ed. 863. If, however, the injuries are of such a character that they cannot be repaired at reasonable cost, an allowance may be made for actual or permanent depreciation, for the reason that an attempt to make complete repairs would involve an expense greatly disproportionate to the amount of such depreciation. Petty v. Merrill, 9 Blatchf. 449, Fed. Cas. No. 11,050. But this allowance in a collision case is subject to the general rule that damages which are uncertain, contingent, or speculative, cannot be recovered, and under this rule it has been ■ held that there is uncertainty when the nature of the damage cannot be determined. It follows that, to recover damages over and above repairs for actual or permanent depreciation, the nature of such damages must be clearly established, and not be left to speculation or uncertainty. In the case of Petty v. Merrill, supra, Judge Woodruff discusses this question with such fullness and clearness as to justify this court in adopting the opinion of the Circuit Judge as applicable to this case. He says:

“I am not satisfied that, upon such testimony, $500 should be allowed, In addition to the cost of the repairs. It rests upon no certain or definite grounds for an estimate. The witness had stated all the cost of making the vessel as [310]*310good as she was before; and then, having stated that she would, nevertheless, not be so valuable, he states that she would be as serviceable; and, finally, the cross-examination shows that his estimate of $500 less in value rests upon a conjecture, based upon what he states as a general result of all collisions, — that the vessels sustain a ^damage that ‘will show when they grow old.’ This is altogether too vague, uncertain, and unreliable to warrant the inference as a fact in this particular case, that, beyond any injury which the witness could detect by his careful examination as an expert in building and repairing vessels, she had also received some undiscoverable damages which, although it did not render her less serviceable, yet detracted $500 from her value, because it would show when she was old. The elements of calculation or of estimate of amount are wanting. Palpably, the assumed fact of such hidden injury, and its extent and character, are conjectural, and the amount of money required as an indemnity is even more so. It may be conceded that the shock of a violent collision will be felt throughout the vessel; but the injury from that cause, if any, is not to be estimated, and cannot be determined as a fact in a court of justice, by reasoning upon any general rule, such as appears to have guided the witness, if, indeed, his estimate was anything more than a rough guess, without any specific facts to support it. No two collisions are alike in any of their circumstances or results. The injury in any given case must be quite peculiar, if the skill of the shipbuilder, at liberty to employ all the expense requisite, is incapable of repairing it; and, when a vessel is made as serviceable as she was before, any conjecture that she is not as valuable, or that when she is old some damage will appear as the result of the collision, not now discoverable, is too vague and uncertain to warrant a finding of the conjectural amount of damage.

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

Related

Eastes v. Superior Oil Co.
65 F. Supp. 998 (W.D. Louisiana, 1946)
The President Madison
91 F.2d 835 (Ninth Circuit, 1937)
Haho v. Northwestern
6 Alaska 268 (D. Alaska, 1920)
The Tremont
160 F. 1016 (W.D. Washington, 1906)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 F. 305, 73 C.C.A. 415, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 4109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-rickmers-ca9-1905.