H & H Ship Service Co. v. Weyerhaeuser Line, a Division of Weyerhaeuser Company, a Corporation

In June of 1963 appellee Weyerhaeuser Line (hereinafter “Weyerhaeuser”) orally contracted with appellant H & H Ship Service Company (hereinafter “H & H”) to do certain cleaning, scraping and painting aboard the SS F. E. WEYER-HAEUSER. On June 20 a crew of ship cleaners employed by H & H, and under the supervision of Robert E. Grant, boarded the vessel to begin the job. The crew was engaged in bringing their equipment aboard when Stephen Mandle, Weyerhaeuser’s Assistant Port Engineer, asked Grant to accompany him into the ' No. 1 hold so that he, Mandle, could show Grant the places where work was needed. Grant indicated that he had no light and sent one of the H & H employees for a light. Mandle said he had a light and repeated his request that Grant accompany him into the No. 1 hold. After Mandle had persisted in his request several times, Grant agreed to accompany him into the hold with only Mandle’s light. Grant thought that one light was sufficient to safely inspect the hold, unless the man with him “didn’t know anything about a ship.” However, it was tacitly stipulated at the trial that one light was inadequate. (R.T. p. 84.)

The SS F. E. WEYERHAEUSER is a modified “Liberty”…