Saint Paul Marine Transportation Corp. v. Cerro Sales Corporation

*1117 OPINION

Early in the morning of June 23, 1968 the crew of the SS North America, a small Liberian tramp freighter, abandoned its flaming vessel approximately 600 miles east-southeast of Honolulu. The ship’s $1,850,000 cargo of copper concentrates bound for South America belonged to appellant Cerro Sales. The U. S. Coast Guard picked up the crew’s distress signal and at approximately 1515 (HST) directed the M/V St. Paul, a huge Liberian bulk carrier to proceed some 30 miles to render assistance to the disabled vessel. The St. Paul swept the area for some time, rescued 22 survivors and then turned its attention to saving the ship.

Crewmen from St. Paul under the leadership of Second Mate Anastasio boarded the North America that afternoon and again the next day. While the testimony is conflicting as to what happened on the respective days, it is clear that they extinguished several small fires, cleared the decks of burning material, closed several open doors, and on the second trip rigged an emergency towing wire from the North America’s bow to the St. Paul’s stern. The towing attempt was discontinued when the line snapped. On June 24th the St. Paul obtained Coast Guard…

(concurring):

I concur in Judge Williams’ opinion with the following additional comments concerning the issue of abandonment.

As Judge Williams points out, if the distressed ship is ultimately saved, the general rule that an abandoning salvor forfeits a salvage award does not preclude an award simply because the salvor does not complete the task of saving the distressed ship. See The Fisher’s Hill, 1953 A.M.C. 2037 (S.D.N.Y.), rev’d sub nom. on other grounds Lago Oil and Transport Co. v. United States, 218 F.2d 631 (2nd Cir. 1955); Atlantic Transport Co. v. United States, 42 F.2d 583 (Ct.Cl.1930); The Strathnevis, 76 F. 855 (D.Wash.1896), and cases cited therein. Appellant argues that in these cases mechanical disability or weather conditions rendered further salvage efforts impossible, whereas no similar circumstances accompanied St. Paul’s departure from the disabled North America. St. Paul was simply unable to take North America safely in tow.

The purpose of salvage awards and the abandonment rule dictate that we reject the contention that an award for a partial salvage be predicated upon the physical impossibility of further effort. Salvage awards encourage mariners to aid…

(dissenting) :

The crew of the Saint Paul performed ably and courageously in rescuing crewmen from the North America and in boarding her later in an attempt to salvage the vessel and her cargo. But our admiration for the men of the Saint Paul is not a substitute for evidence that the efforts of the boarding parties meaningfully contributed to the ultimately successful salvage by the tug Ma-lie.

The key district court findings were that the boarding parties closed doors and portholes in the after accommodations and that without that action seawater would have entered the vessel through these apertures in such quantities that the vessel could have sunk before the Malie reached her. No one testified that anyone closed portholes. The porthole finding is based solely on Di-Colo’s unsworn statement in Italian annexed to his deposition. The Italian statement was accompanied by an English translation that does not mention portholes. Porthole closing entered the case for the first and only time when plaintiff’s in-court translator was trying to interpret DiColo’s unsworn statement. Of course, the DiColo statement was inadmissible hearsay even if the translator correctly interpreted it, a…

505 F.2d 1115 SAINT PAUL MARINE TRANSPORTATION CORP., et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CERRO SALES CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant. No. 72-1675. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Sept. 13, 1974. 1 George L. Waddell (argued), of Dorr, Cooper & Hays, San Francisco, for defendant-appellant. 2 Paul F. Cronin (argued), of Cronin, Fried, Sekiya & Haley, Honolulu, Hawaii, for plaintiffs-appellees. 3 Before HUFSTEDLER and WRIGHT, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAMS, * District Judge. OPINION SPENCER WILLIAMS, District Judge: 4 Early in the morning of Juen 23, 1968 the crew of the SS North America, a small Liberian tramp freighter, abandoned its flaming vessel approximately 600 miles east-southeast of Honolulu. The ship's $1,850,000 cargo of copper concentrates bound for South America belonged to appellant Cerro Sales. The U.S. Coast Guard picked up the crew's distress signal and at approximately 1515 (HST) directed the M/V St. Paul, a huge Liberian bulk carrier to proceed some 30 miles to render assistance to the disabled vessel. The St. Paul swept the area for some time, rescued 22 survivors and then turned its attention to saving the ship. 5 Crewmen from St. Paul under…