Diamond-O Navigation Co. v. Mystic S. S. Co.

This was a libel in rem against the steamship Taussig by the Diamond-0 Navigation Company for damages resulting from a collision in the Columbia river, about off the town of Kalama, Wash. The libel was filed by the Diamond-0 Navigation Company, not only for its own damages, but as bailee for damages to cargo which was on the barge, and most of which was lost. Upon the trial it was stipulated that proof of any damages should be postponed until the question of liability was decided. The' District Court held there was no liability, and the Diamond-0 Company appealed.

The facts are as follows:

On a clear, dark night in May, 1924, the Felix Taussig, an ocean-going steamer 395 feet long and 55 feet beam, drawing 17 feet forward and 19% feet aft, under speed of between 9 and 10 knots an hour, was proceeding up the Columbia river from Astoria to Portland, Or., in charge of a licensed Columbia river pilot. The tide was running down and fairly strong. The Diamond-O, a Columbia river steamboat of stern paddle wheel type, 151 feet long and over 27 feet wide, with an oil barge lashed on her starboard beam, was going down the river carrying cargo. The oil barge was about 140 feet long and 30…