Home/D. South Carolina/Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corp. v. Southport

Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corp. v. Southport

95 F. Supp. 331, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2603
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJanuary 26, 1951
DocketNos. 1047, 1048
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 95 F. Supp. 331 (Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corp. v. Southport) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corp. v. Southport, 95 F. Supp. 331, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2603 (D.S.C. 1951).

Opinion

WARING, Chief Judge.

On January 15, 1949, the S. S. South-port, being then and there berthed alongside the wharf of the City Compress and Warehouse Company in the Cooper River in the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, broke from her moorings, drifted down the river and came into collision with a floating dry dock which was moored at the shipyard plant operated by Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corporation. The floating dry dock, known as “YFD-15” is a wooden five-sectioned floating dry dock of 9,000 tons capacity.

The libellant, Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corporation, which is hereinafter referred to as Todd, was the owner of one section of this dry dock. The other sections were owned by the United States of America. The whole dry dock was moored at the Todd plant and was under operation by it. As a result of the collision of the ship with this dry dock, certain of its sections were damaged and there was also some damage to piers at which the dock was moored. [332]*332Both Todd and the Government filed .libels against The Southport in rem and against South Atlantic Steamship Line, Inc., the owner of said vessel in personam.

The steamship Southport is owned by South Atlantic Steamship Line, Inc., a corporation. The last named appeared as claimant; and in turn impleaded and filed a cross-libel against City Compress and Warehouse Corporation which was the owner and operator of a wharf and dock situate at the end of Charlotte Street in the City of Charleston, South Carolina. City Compress and Warehouse Company (hereinafter called Compress) responded and in turn brought its cross-libel against the ship and its owner. The issues in the two cases being identical except for amount of damages sustained by libellants, the Court consolidated the causes and they were heard together as one.

The respective amounts of damages suffered by the different parties were stipulated and are as follows: the section of the dry dock owned by Todd was damáged to the extent of $13,513; damages to the sections of the dry dock and the piers owned by the Government amounted to $46,916; the damages to the ship for which claim is made by its owner against Compress is $2,-862.15; and the damage to the wharf and facilities of Compress for which claim is made against the ship and its owner is $2,-122.

The libellant’s claims are based upon allegations of negligence on the part of the vessel and those in charge of her in failing to have the vessel securely moored and to attend to the moorings and keep them in proper condition; and to take proper precautions to avoid colliding with the dry dock after the moorings had come loose. The ship and its owner admit that the ship went adrift and was in collision with the dry dock but they assert that all of that was brought about by the failure of Compress to furnish safe and adequate mooring facilities. And they, in turn, pray judgment against Compress for the damages suffered by them. Compress denies any negligence on its part or inadequacies or failure of its mooring facilities and alleges' negligence in the .manáge'ment and handling of the ship in conducting its mooring and handling of the ship after' it had broken away and prays judgment for its damages. This Court has jurisdiction of all the parties and issues involved in this cause. Admiralty Rule 56, 28 U.S.C.A.

The factual situation is as follows:

On the early morning of January 15, 1949, the S. S. Southport came into the port of Charleston. She was met by a harbor pilot and piloted up to and in the vicinity of the City Compress wharf. Tug boats assisted in warping her into her berth alongside the Compress.wharf; the berthing and mooring being under the supervision of the tug master who, in this instance, was the master of one of the tug boats of the White-Stack Company: The ship lay with its starboard alongside the face of the Compress wharf, its bow pointed southward or downstream. The choice of whether ships were moored with bow downstream o-r upstream was generally determined by the state of the tide at the time of docking. It is well known that a ship is easier to handle and berth against the tide. Tide was flooding when The Southport-was placed at this wharf. The ship was moored at approximately 3:00 A. M. The weather was good and fair. There was no unusual wind or tide. The tide table showed that the rise and fall of the tide in this harbor is normally five and eight-tenths feet. On the day in question, low tide occurred at 12:50 A.M., high tide at 7:19 A. M., and the following low tide at 1:46 P.M. The ship was moored as hereinafter more particularly described and after the turn of the tide certain of her lines were tended by taking up slack at approximately 9:00 A.M. and again at approximately 10:3Q A.M. The breaking loose of the ship which resulted in its drifting down stream and is the cause of the incidents hereinafter detailed, occurred at approximately 11:15 A.M.

It is important to fully understand the way the ship was moored. There was introduced in evidence a sketch or plan which graphically illustrates how the ship was lying at -the wharf and how she was moored. This is Exhibit A which was introduced by the respondent ship. This sketch does not purport to be drawn to exact scale and the distances and dimensions are not given on it. However, it clearly illustrates exactly how the ship lay at the wharf and what lines were holding her. A photographic copy of this exhibit is attached to this opinion and will be referred to from time to time.

[333]

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

Related

Todd Atlantic Shipyards Corp. v. Southport
100 F. Supp. 763 (E.D. South Carolina, 1951)
City Compress & Warehouse Co. v. United States the Southport
190 F.2d 699 (Fourth Circuit, 1951)
Lavinda McLeod v. Union Barge Line Company
189 F.2d 610 (Third Circuit, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 F. Supp. 331, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/todd-atlantic-shipyards-corp-v-southport-scd-1951.