Tysko

In an action for personal injuries sustained by appellant as the result of a fall through an open hatch of a vessel owned by appellee, the trial court directed a verdict for appellee and entered judgment accordingly. Appellant was a longshoreman in the employ of a stevedoring company, a corporation which had entered into a contract with appellee for the loading of cargo on the vessel.

Appellant was working in the lower ’tween-decks when the accident happened. The floor of this part of the hatchway was made up principally of sixteen separate hatch covers or plugs, which were four feet ten inches square, with the exception of three strong-backs a foot wide running between the four rows of plugs, and coamings around the edge of the floor which rested against the walls of the refrigerator compartment. The plugs and strong-backs above this floor were removed, and the hatch was open thereabove. The longshoremen stowing cargo on the floor referred to descended to the floor by means of a ladder a few inches from the wall in one corner. The plug immediately beneath the ladder had been removed and was covered with dunnage. In the afternoon of the day of the injury, appellant with other…