The Silverpalm

13 F. Supp. 212, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1090
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 28, 1935
DocketNo. 21697-L
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 13 F. Supp. 212 (The Silverpalm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Silverpalm, 13 F. Supp. 212, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1090 (N.D. Cal. 1935).

Opinion

LOUDERBACK, District Judge.

This is a petition of the Silver Line, Limited, a corporation, of the Kingdom of Great Britain, to limit its liability for the damages arising out of the collision which occurred on October 24, 1933, between its motorship, the Silverpalm, and the United States cruiser, Chicago. The collision occurred in a fog on the high seas about twenty miles from Point Sur, California. The responsibility for the collision was before this court in the trial of the libel and cross-libel in the case entitled United States of America vs. Silver Line, Limited, No. 21666, in which the Silverpalm was held solely at fault for the collision. The petition of the Silver Line to limit its liability in damages to the value of the Silverpalm and her freight then pending rests upon provisions of title 46, section 183 of the United States Code Annotated, R.S. § 4283.

The issue before the court is whether the Silver Line, Limited, has shown that the losses complained of have been done, occasioned, or incurred, without the privity or knowledge of the Silver Line. The testimony and the exhibits are voluminous and time does not permit, in this opinion, an analysis and detailed review of all the evidence presented upon the issues. The couri can but summarize and make its findings upon the evidence.

The evidence shows that the Silverpalm was a motorship, medium grey in color, with a length over all of 475 feet, length between perpendiculars of 450 feet, beam 62% feet, depth 50 feet, two masts, one smokestack, gross tonnage 6,373, cargo capacity 8,000 to 9,000 tons, and carried about 7,000 tons of cargo on the voyage involved in this litigation. The Silverpalm was1 built in England in 1929, had Doxford Diesel engines, two-cycle, of the opposed piston type, an engine which was developed about twelve years prior to the collision. The characteristic of this engine, to which much of the testimony was directed, was the method of reversal. When the order “full astern” is given, the engineer on duty cuts off the fuel supply and the engine continues to run ahead until the friction of the water, the drag of the propeller, and the weight of the ship bring the engine to a stop. When it has stopped, it can then, and only then, be started astern. Although, of course, the momentum of the ship may be such that the ship will continue to forge ahead for some time after the engines will have started astern. The interval of time that must elapse between the order to reverse engines and the moment of the engines reversal, depends upon the speed of the ship when the order to reverse is given. The witnesses who testified in this proceeding are in substantial agreement that at “slow” or “moderate” speeds (defined by them as from four to six knots or less per hour) the time within which reversal of the engines can be accomplished is short and compares favorably with marine engines of other types. When, however, the ship is proceeding at more than six knots per hour, the comparison is unfavorable. When the Silver-palm made full speed or approximately full speed (108 to 118 revolutions in the engines, or from 13% to 15 knots per hour), the time required between the order to reverse engines and actual reversal is between four or five minutes, according to the estimates made by the engineers of the Silverpalm in October, 1933, and hy other witnesses called by the petitioner. Test runs made two months after the collision by agents of petitioner showed that when the ship was proceeding at 108 revolutions it required three minutes and two to four seconds, light wind being astern, to bring the engines to a stop; and two minutes and twenty-one seconds with the wind ahead and a hard right rudder being used. The ship carried 2,000 tons less cargo when [214]*214these tests were made than were carried at the time of the collision. There is an unaccountable lack of testimony to. show whether or not conditions in the engine room were identical when the later test runs were made, with the conditions existing in October, 1933, at the time of the collision. Had they been the same, it should have been shown. The absence of testimony on this point would indicate that the ship’s reversing abilities in October, 1933, were no better than in December, 1933, and possibly not as good, given identical conditions.

Testimony as to the reversing abilities of other marine engines going at high speeds shows, without conflict, that the order to reverse engines can be executed on the reciprocating-engined vessel, the turbine-engined vessel, and on vessels having other types of Diesel engines, in much shorter time than on the Doxford Diesel type. Of all the witnesses who testified, there was only one who had experience with a vessel which required as much as two minutes.to put the engine astern, and he considered such characteristic “very unusual.” The witnesses showed a range of fifteen seconds to “within the minute” as being a reasonably prompt response for engine reversal, to an order “full astern” given when a ship was proceeding full ahead or nearly full ahead at 13 or 14 knots. This comparison applies to Diesel engines of types other than the Doxford Diesel. The braking power of the Diesels — that is, bringing the engine to a point of rest— was clearly shown by the witness, Professor B. M. Woods, whose testimony was most persuasive. A practical comparison was in fact made by petitioner’s witness, Captain Archibald A. Dunning, who had acted as bar pilot on the Silverpalm. He knew the Silverpalm to be a Diesel-engined ship, but did not know the Doxford engine and thought it ought to have been able to put its engines astern within a minute from the time the order was given, if the ship was traveling 14 knot's.

The court has considered this characteristic of the Silverpalm in this detail because it seems to the court such an engined ship, particularly without brakes, more dangerous at high speeds than ships with other types of engines. Thus, petitioner’s witness, Captain Ensor, testified that over six knots is a rather dangerous speed for stopping quickly in an emergency.

There was evidence to show that a (brake was perfected for use on the Doxford-engined ships in 1923, which was furnished to the English Doxford Company. There was some conflict in the evidence as to its safety, and its success, but the great weight of the evidence showed that the brake was safe, and materially reduced the time required to stop the engine. The evidence shows that the petitioner had knowledge. of this brake, but, on the advice of engineers, did not install the brake on the Silverpalm. There were, at the time of the collision, 109 ships with Doxford Diesel engines, more than 30 of- which were equipped with brakes.

The question was argued at length, whether or not the Silverpalm was to be regarded as unseaworthy because of these characteristics of her engines when operated without a brake. It is plain, however, that the engine, as installed on the Silver-palm, is inherently dangerous, since it is not readily controllable when proceeding at a speed greater than six knots. Despite the fact that this is an engine of expert mechanical efficiency, it is most regrettable that the development of greater efficiency in one direction should be at the sacrifice of safety in another. While the evidence shows clearly that this type of engine, without a brake, was approved by the engineering experts with whom the Silver Line conferred prior to the building of the Silverpalm, this does not solve the issue of the right to judicial determination upon an engine inherently dangerous when running at the speed which must be maintained a large part of the time for the purpose of commercial usefulness.

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Bluebook (online)
13 F. Supp. 212, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-silverpalm-cand-1935.