Morrison Mill Co. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford

Appellant brought this action to recover for damages to *863 a scow load of shooks covered by a policy of marine insurance issued by appellee. In tandem tow the loaded scow, bound for Seattle, left Anaeortes at 12:45 p. m. August 1,1927. At that time, the testimony tended to show, she had a list of about 4 inches and a rake of from 2 to 3 inches and had water to a depth of from 4 to 6 inches in the lowest comer. Loaded and in that condition she had a free-board of about 18 inches on one side and 14 on the other. Three hours later the tow encountered a southerly wind and ground swells, but of a not unusual character. Half an hour thereafter, 4:15 p. m., it was observed that the barge had a list of 9 or 10 inches. At that time there had been no known mishap or casualty and the wind was blowing only about 15 or 20 miles an hour with the swells just beginning to break. Upon opening up a hateh it was found that the water in the low comer had reached a depth of about 13 inches. It was pumped down to a depth of 4 or 5 inches and the hateh cover replaced, whereupon the tug proceeded to take the tow out of the “tide rips.” At the end of a half hour it was noticed that the barge was again…