Washington Marine Co. v. Rainier Mile & Lumber Co.

198 F. 142, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1285
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedJuly 15, 1912
DocketNo. 4,963
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 198 F. 142 (Washington Marine Co. v. Rainier Mile & Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washington Marine Co. v. Rainier Mile & Lumber Co., 198 F. 142, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1285 (D. Or. 1912).

Opinion

WOLVERTON, District Judge.

This is a libel to recover demur-rage for detention of the steamer Washington caused by the alleged failure of respondent to receive and take certain cargoes of lumber from the ship’s side so as to enable the libelant to discharge the cargoes within the lay days specified in the charter parties under which the cargoes were carried; also, a small amount, to wit, $28.70, for wages of stevedores working overtime. The lumber was shipped to be delivered under two charter parties of date, respectively, March 12, 1907, and April 24, 1907. Demurrage is claimed for one-half day’s detention of the steamer on each of two voyages made under the first, known as voyages 10 and 11, and, under the second, three days on each of two voyages, known as 12 and 13, being for $1,400 in the aggregate. The charter party of date March 12th provides, among other things:

“Cargo to be furnished to vessel at loading port, and taken from vessel at, port of discharge, by charterers or their agents, furnished in three working days and taken in -five working days.”

That of April 24th :

“Cargo to be furnished to vessel at loading port, by charterers or their agents at the rate of not less than 150 M. feet per working day, and received at port of discharge in five (5) days, Sunday excepted.”

And each of them stipulates:

“Lay days to commence at ports of loading and discharge immediately after notice, given in writing by the captain, that vessel is ready to receive or discharge cargo.
“For each and every day’s detention by default of charterers, the charterers or their agents shall pay to the managing owners, day by day, in gold coin of the United States, demurrage at the rate of $200.00 per day.
[144]*144“Cargo shall be received within reach of vessel’s tackle (which is construed to mean within 60 feet of vessel’s rail) and delivered as customary with steam schooners.’’

The cargoes were shipped at Rainier, Or., and transported to Oakland and San Francisco, Cal.

On voyage 10 the steamer arrived at the dock April 29, 1907, at 1 a. m. and began discharging at 9 a. m. She finished discharging at noon of May 4th.

On voyage 11 she arrived at the wharf May 16th at 6:50 a. m., began discharging at 9 a. m., and finished on the 22d at noon.

Arrived at the wharf on voyage 12 Juné 3d at 10 p. m., began discharging June 4th at 9 a.- m., and completed her work June 11th at .10:30.

The thirteenth voyage ended at the dock June 24th at 6 a. m., began discharging at 7, and completed July 1st.

■ Much testimony has been adduced; but the principal dispute as to fact relates to the manner of discharging the cargoes by the steamer Washington and the manner of taking the same away from the ship’s tackle by the respondent.

[1] A question is suggested, under the charter party of March 12th, .whether the respondent should not only receive the lumber at the ship’s side, but also unload it from the ship. ,The clause (7) requiring interpretation is an unusual one in charter parties. It reads:

“To be * * * taken from vessel * * * by charterers.’’

. Its literal rendering would seem to require the charterers to unload the vessel; or to take the lumber as found laden on the vessel. Clause 10, however., requires the cargo to be “delivered as customary with steam schooners.” This, taken' in connection with the way in which the parties to the charter parties themselves treated the stipulation, leads to the rendering which requires the charterers to receive the lumber at port of discharge as stipulated in the charter party of April 24th. Such was evidently the intention of the parties when they, entered into the contract, and such is. the reasonable intendment of the contract itself. This requires the vessel to unload the cargo and the charterers to receive the same from the ship’s side or from within reach .of • her tackle.

[2] Controversy has arisen.as to the significancé of the language “detention by default of charterers,” contained in the charter parties. The term “default” employed in that relation in charter parties signi;fies failure qn the part of the charterers to do or perform some duty or act which they have stipulated or are bound in pursuance of their 'contractual relations to do or perform. The term cannot be so broadly interpreted as to include all manner of causes of detention or delay, whether arising "from act or omission in the discharge of duty on the part of the charterers or not. In other words, the contract is not absolute that there shall be no detention beyond a certain day for any •cause, but that-there shall be no detention on account of the failure of the charterers to perform their contractual obligations with the .vessel-.or. :its-.owners, .1,600 Tons of Nitrate of Soda v. McLeod, 61 [145]*145Fed. 849, 10 C. C. A. 115; Crossman v. Burrill, 179 U. S. 100, 21 Sup. Ct. 38, 45 L. Ed. 106.

[3] The controversy as to the fact centers about the charge on the part of the charterer that the vessel was at fault in the manner in which it persisted in discharging the lumber over the ship’s side and lowering it upon the dock or wharf, and the charge on the part of the vessel that the charterer -was derelict in not removing the lumber from the wharf with reasonable dispatch so as to afford room for disposing of it as fast as it could be taken from the ship. The especial complaint of the charterer is that the winch in use upon the Washington was defective and out of order much of the time, so that the operator was unable to control the sling-loads of lumber as they were taken from the vessel, and to lower them slowly upon the dock, so that they could be swung or directed, by the men on the dock when coming within their reach, to the desired place for landing; that the slings were lowered by irregular starts, sometimes running down rapidly and for uncertain distances, and not infrequently striking the wharf with such violence as to break up the lumber, and withal, rendering it dangerous for the men on the wharf to work about the sling until it was fully landed; and that thus the men were greatly delayed in removing the lumber from the wharf. Hence it is urged that whatever delay was encountered in unloading the Washington was caused by the bad operation of the winch and the irregular manner of unloading the lumber from the vessel.

I am convinced that the winch did work badly, and that this contributed to the delay and detention of the vessel, but that it was not the whole cause of such delay and detention. The lumber was sorted on the wharf, as it came off the vessel, before being carted away to the yard. To allow this to be done with the greatest convenience and dispatch, the lumber was' delivered in three different places on the wharf, which could be done by swinging the hoisting appliance to accommodate it to the place of landing. It is disputed that the lumber was so discharged, but I am impressed that it was. The stevedores at work on the wharf in separating and removing .the lumber were therefore unable to take it away as fast as it could be unloaded, and the greater part of the delay arose by reason thereof.

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Bluebook (online)
198 F. 142, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-marine-co-v-rainier-mile-lumber-co-ord-1912.