Weigel v. MV Belgrano

D. Oregon

Weigel v. MV Belgrano

189 F. Supp. 103, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4185

CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon

DecidedApril 14, 1960

DocketCiv. No. 10027

StatusPublished

Cited by5 cases

This text of 189 F. Supp. 103 (Weigel v. MV Belgrano) 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

Weigel v. MV Belgrano, 189 F. Supp. 103, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4185 (D. Or. 1960).

Pincite

Opinion

EAST, District Judge.

Nature of Cause

This is a libel in personam and in rem with foreign attachment for damages resulting from personal injuries sustained by libelant as a result of the alleged unseaworthiness of the MY Belgrano (“vessel”) and the negligence of the respondents.

The respondents impleaded Brady-Hamilton Stevedore Company (“stevedore”) as third-party respondent under Admiralty Rule 56, 28 U.S.C.A. in a cause of indemnity.

The libelant at the time of the accident involved was a longshoreman employee of stevedore then under contract to bring aboard and stow the vessel with cargo, including lumber. The question of the claim of respondents for indemnity from stevedore has been segregated and reserved until adjudication of libelant’s claim.

The segregated issue of liability to libelant and his damage has been submitted to the Court following a trial by the Court and the filing of brief.

Pertinent Undisputed Facts On or about October 10, 1958, the vessel was lying adjacent to the dock at Terminal No. 1 on the Willamette River in the Port of Portland, Portland, Oregon, and longshoremen unemployed by the stevedore were immediately engaged in moving (topping) the starboard boom at No. 1 hatch in order to bring aboard lumber cargo from the dock when the boom and its rigging fell and struck the libelant, who was working on the dock as a fellow longshoreman, causing him personal injuries.

This Court has admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of this cause in rem of the vessel and in personam of the named parties.

Court’s Findings of Fact as to Liability This Court finds that:

Libelant was struck with the falling boom while he was engaged in his duties as a dockworking longshoreman and particularly operating a tractor in reverse motion and pulling with a tow line a railroad car, then loaded with some of the lumber cargo, upon a permanently fixed railroad spur line on the dock along shipside. The purpose was to place the lumber-laden railroad car under and within the reach of the vessel's gear so as to load the lumber upon the vessel.¹ (Figure 1.)

[105]*105FIGURE 1

The falling boom struck the libelant without any notice or warning to him.

The vessel was of German design, newly-built, and engaged as a freighter, and she appeared clean.

The vessel’s starboard boom at her No. 1 hatch had been and was at the time of the accident fitted, among other things, with a topping lift winch drum (“lift gear”) of German design. This gear was a permanently affixed appurtenance of the vessel and, unlike the common American style of chain and shackle fastening topping gear, was semi-automatic in operation.² (Figure 2.)

FIGURE 2

The larger wire rope wound on the left portion of the drum on the lift gear and! extending upwards between the words', “notches” and “pawl” extends on upwards and through a block on the mast and is made fast near the top of the boom involved. The lift gear is stationed just abaft of the starboard winch at No. 1 hatch.³ (Figure 3.)

FIGURE 3

The smaller steel rope wound on the right portion of the drum has been referred to as “topping lift pennant” and “pigtail line” (“pigtail line”), and the unwound portion thereof lies free on the deck when not in use. The free end of the pigtail line is equipped with a “hook,” a “dog” or a “pawl” (“dog”).⁴ (Figure 4.) The “nigger head” or “gypsy head” (“gypsy head”) on the winch has a hole or cutting through its outside rim.⁵ (Figure 5.) To operate the boom lift [106]*106gear the dog is inserted in the hole in the rim of the gypsy head.⁶ (Figure 6.) This pigtail line dog with the cutting in the rim of the gypsy head is also of German concept and design and, when the dog is properly inserted and locked by a twist in the gypsy head opening⁷ (Figure 7.), the pigtail line is made fast to the gypsy head and cannot be separated by direct pull of the winch unless there is a failure of the metals. When the lift gear is operating normally, the strain of the winch causes an unwinding of the pigtail line and causes a reverse winding of the boom topping wire rope upon the drum and a lifting of the boom. Slack upon the pigtail line will cause an unwinding of the topping wire rope by the weight of the boom, a lowering thereof, and a winding of the pigtail line upon the drum. The drum of the lift gear has as an integral part thereof, at each end, a permanently fixed circular ratchet or pawl rim or wheel made of cast metal provided with a series of cammed ratchets on which permanently attached [107]*107but free rising and falling pawls ride and rise and drop into the intervening notches by gravity. These two pawls are rigidly connected together with an iron bar and operate on a single axle. When one pawl is up so is the other, and vice versa. When the lift gear in the boom-lifting operation functions correctly according to intent and design, the pawls freely ride and rise upon the cammed ratchets and drop automatically by gravity into the notches, thus forming a locking device to prevent the drum from turning back under the weight of the boom following an intentional slack or an unexpected failure of the pigtail line. When the gear is used to lower the boom, it is necessary for a longeshoreman to manually hold or otherwise prevent the pawls from falling by gravity into the notches. The action of a longshoreman in lowering or letting the pawls fall into the notches will lock the drum and prevent the continued lowering of the boom or a falling of the boom upon a sudden parting or failure of the pigtail line.

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