This is an action by a ship owner, Sea-Land Service, Inc., (Sea-Land), against the contracting stevedore company, Mat-son Terminals, Inc., (Matson), to recover indemnity for breach of a stevedore’s implied warranty of workmanlike service.

Under a written contract, Matson agreed to act as stevedore and terminal operator and “ * * *, as directed, with all possible dispatch, load and/or discharge all cargoes of vessels owned, operated or controlled by” Sea-Land, “and will perform terminal services upon such vessels” at Matson operated piers. Sea-Land granted to Matson the exclusive right of handling all such cargoes at the rates of charges fixed in the schedule.

Matson agreed “while doing the utmost to carry out all the work hereby undertaken to be done”, it was not to be responsible for delays or losses caused by strikes, labor troubles, Acts of God, etc. All work to be performed by Matson was to be in accordance with working rules as set forth in agreements between the longshoremen and the Pacific Maritime Association. In the absence of such agreements, current practice of the port prevailed. Matson agreed to be responsible “for all losses and damage to the vessel, its equipment or cargo, caused through or as the result of its own negligence or malpractice.” In the event of such loss or damage such fact is to be called to the attention of Matson and acknowledgment thereof obtained. In a like manner, Matson is to call to the attention of Sea-Land “unsatisfactory conditions which may exist for which the owner is responsible and obtain acknowledgment thereof.”

Sea-Land agreed “to supply booms, adequate winches in good working order and with sufficient steam or power for their efficient operation; blocks, topping lifts, guys and wire falls of sufficient length and strength, lights on vessel for work at night, and derricks or cranes for such heavy lifting as exceeds the capacity of ship’s gear.”

Following the unloading operations and while a pontoon was being put back in place, various longshoremen, including one Caldwell, employed by Matson and acting within the course and scope of their employment, helped in guiding the pontoon into place either by pushing or pulling on the guy lines after the pontoon was lifted by a winch operated by a longshoreman, likewise an employee of Mat-son and acting within the course and scope of his employment. Caldwell was injured when the pontoon “jumped” and struck him on the hand.

Caldwell brought suit against Sea-Land alleging negligence and unseaworthiness on the part of Sea-Land. Sea-Land included Matson in a third party indemnity action, alleging inter alia, breach of implied warranty of expertise owing Sea-Land by Matson.

Following trial to the court sitting without a jury, the district court found that the pontoon struck Caldwell as the result of a defective condition in the winch mechanism, and concluded the vessel was unseaworthy by reason thereof. The district court found that Matson breached its contract, express and implied, with Sea-Land.

Judgment was rendered in favor of Caldwell against Sea-Land and in favor of Sea-Land against Matson in the amount of $14,785,81, consisting of $12,-556.09, personal injury award, $39.52 costs, and $2,190.20 attorney’s fees. The judgment in favor of Caldwell was paid by Sea-Land. Caldwell is not concerned in this appeal.

No question is raised as to the jurisdiction of the district court or of this court.

There appears to be little, if any, dispute between the parties as to the facts of the case. They may be summarized as follows:

About April 10, 1962, Sea-Land’s vessel, S.S. SHORT HILLS, docked in the Los Angeles harbor at a Matson operated pier. The gear was rigged by longshoremen and uncovering operations were commenced. The first winch operator was Frank C. Salcido, who alternated as a winch operator and hatch tender with Robert Rheinhardt, a winch operator and hatch tender of long experience who was also the safety man of the longshoremen. Almost immediately on checking out the gears and winches, before or at the time when uncovering operations were commenced, Mr. Salcido discovered that the winch was not operating properly. He reported such fact to Mr. Rheinhardt. Mr. Rheinhardt immediately took over the operation of the winch. His first task was to remove a series (6) of heavy metal pontoons which were covering the ship’s hatch. Each pontoon weighed one and one-half to two tons. As he began the removal of the first pontoon, he also experienced difficulty with the winch which would not hoist on one gear — there was a slippage. Rheinhardt thereupon notified his hatch foreman, who told the ship’s mate, who told the ship’s electrician. The work of removing the pontoons, however, continued although with difficulty. Certain compensating movements were required. Rheinhardt was aware at that time that Safety and Health Regulations for Longshoring (June 1960) issued by the United States Department of Labor, provided at Section 9.53(c) (2) that winches shall not be used when one or more control points, either hoisting or lowering, is not operating properly. The ship’s electrician arrived when there were one or two pontoons remaining to be removed. He observed Rheinhardt operating the winch. The electrician went away stating “I’ll see what I can do about it.” The remaining pontoons were removed with the same difficulty. The electrician returned and inquired “How are they working now?” At that time all of the pontoons had been removed and the winch was handling empty cardboards, pallet boards and light cargo, at which time the winch appeared to operate properly. Rheinhardt never asked the electrician if repairs had been effected, never saw him do anything to remedy the defect, and was never advised that anything had been done.

Between the uncovering and the covering operations Rheinhardt had no trouble with the winches. Covering operations started on April 12, 1962 and Caldwell was injured during the course of replacing the first pontoon, and just prior to the time the pontoon was almost seated, at which time Rheinhardt noticed slippage. As to this circumstance Rheinhardt, in substance, testified: that when the pontoon was within inches of where it was to be placed, he discovered the winches weren’t in proper working order —there was a slipping — at which time he attempted to compensate for the slipping by putting the winch into a higher control point, at which time he could have stopped the operation but which he did not do because the pontoon was almost where they were trying to place it.

Rheinhardt testified that it was the custom and practice in the industry for the ship’s crew to maintain and repair the ship’s gear, and that after a report is made to the shipowner of a malfunction of the ship’s gear, “the job will be shut down completely by pulling or disconnecting the power which will make it completely impossible to use the equipment, or else, ‘or they will tell you to go ahead and work it [the equipment] and they will fix it.’ ”

The findings of fact of the district court include the following:

Among its conclusions of law are the following:

Neither party questions on this appeal the propriety of the allowance by the district court of the judgment in favor of the injured longshoreman and against Sea-Land. Matson concedes that its stevedoring contract with Sea-Land includes an implied warranty on the part of Matson to perform such services in a workmanlike manner. In this respect Matson states:

This posture of the appeal requires us to examine the characteristics and nature of an implied warranty of workmanlike service. One of the latest expressions of the Supreme Court on this subject appears in Italia Societa per Azioni di Navigazione v. Oregon Stevedoring Co., Inc., 376 U.S. 315 , 84 S.Ct. 748 , 11 L.Ed.2d 732 (1964). In the course of its opinion the Supreme Court stated at pp. 318-324, 84 S.Ct. at pp. 750-754:

Under the stevedoring contract, Sea-Land agreed to supply adequate winches in good working order. It failed to do so. However, Matson discovered that the winches were not in good working order immediately upon commencement of its stevedoring operations and several days prior to the occurrence which caused injury to Caldwell. At the time that Mat-son discovered and became aware of the malfunctioning of the winches, it can hardly be asserted that Sea-Land’s failure to supply winches in good working order constituted such a material breach of the stevedoring contract, or of such conduct on the part of Sea-Land, as to preclude it from enforcing the contract to recover indemnity arising out of an occurrence which occurred several days later under circumstances which did not exist when Matson discovered the unsatisfactory condition of the winches. Upon discovery of the unsatisfactory condition Matson was obligated to call such condition to the attention of Sea-Land and obtain acknowledgment thereof. Conceivably, the unsatisfactory condition of the winches would have justified Matson in discontinuing its stevedoring operations, which were hazardous, until Sea-Land had remedied the defect. DeGioia v. United States Lines Company, 304 F.2d 421, 424 (2d Cir. 1962); Simpson v. Royal Rotterdam Lloyd, 225 F.Supp. 947, 952 (S.D.N.Y.1964).

Matson called Sea-Land’s attention to the unsatisfactory condition but did not stop work and continued, with difficulty because of the unsatisfactory condition, to remove all the pontoons as well as lighter cargo which was removed without difficulty.

The injury to Caldwell occurred after unloading operations had been completed while Matson was attempting to replace the first pontoon. Circumstances had occurred between the time of the discovery by Matson of the unsatisfactory condition of the winches, and the time of the injury to Caldwell, which must be considered. Admittedly Matson received no acknowledgment from Sea-Land that the unsatisfactory condition of the winches had been called to the attention of Sea-Land. Rheinhardt never inquired of the ship's mate or electrician, or other member of the ship’s crew, if the unsatisfactory condition had been remedied, never saw any repairs being made, and was never advised that anything had been done to remedy the malfunction. He simply assumed from his conversations with the electrician, and from the removal of lighter cargo from the vessel without difficulty, that the unsatisfactory condition had been remedied. Nothing in the record suggests that Rheinhardt made any tests to see if the malfunction had been remedied.

The district court found as facts [Finding IX, supra]

Matson contends that such findings are not supported by the evidence. We disagree. From our study of the record we are unable to say that such findings are wholly erroneous.

It is to be noted that competence and safety are the essence of the implied obligation of the stevedore to render workmanlike service. Matson was in charge of the stevedoring operations. It is a specialist in that field. Having early secured knowledge of the defective winches, and having continued to use them until Caldwell was injured, with no satisfactory evidence that the unsatisfactory condition had been remedied, falls short of that standard of expertise embodied in its implied obligation to furnish workmanlike service. In our view, in light of the circumstances of this case, the conduct of Sea-Land did not constitute such material breach of its contract so as to preclude it from enforcing the contract of indemnity. Pettus v. Grace Line, Inc., supra.

We have carefully considered Hagans v. Farrell Lines, 237 F.2d 477 (3d Cir. 1956), and Hodgson v. Lloyd Brasileiro Patrimonio Nacional, etc., 294 F.2d 32 (3d Cir. 1961), heavily relied upon by Matson but are not persuaded.

We find no error either in the fact or amount of the allowance by the district court of attorney’s fees to Sea-Land.

The judgment appealed from is affirmed.

. Pettus v. Grace Line, Inc., 305 F.2d 151 (2d Cir. 1962).