Hydaburg Cooperative Association, Libelant and v. Alaska Steamship Company, And

Roy Kennedy, an engine wiper employed on the S.S. Coastal Rambler of the Alaska Steamship Company on September 11, 1964, stuck a fire hose and its stream of water into the starboard bilge sounding pipe on the weather deck of the ship near the No. 1 hatch. He should have put it into the nearby starboard sounding pipe connected to the double bottom. The water ran for about four or five hours before the mistake was discovered. As a result, canned salmon in the cargo consigned by Hydaburg was seriously damaged.

The ship was berthed at Pier 24 in Seattle. The stream of water intended for the double bottoms would have helped trim the ship. Prior removal of some of the cargo had made this desirable.

Over on the port side there was a pair of sounding pipes, again one for the bilge and one for the double bottom. Apparently one Bergman, first assistant engineer, assisted Kennedy in locating the correct sounding pipe for the water on the port side. Then Soyktis, second assistant engineer, assisted him in finding the sounding pipe (the wrong one) on the starboard side.

Each sounding pipe had a cap and a collar. On the starboard side the cap and collar of the pipe to the double bot-ton seem…