Sperry Flour Co. v. Coastwise Steamship & Barge Co.

This is an appeal from a decree in admiralty deciding adversely to the claim of appellant for damage to and nondelivery of a shipment of flour occasioned by the stranding of the carrying steamer James Griffiths, through the admitted gross negligence of her Chief Mate, Mortensen. In complete absence of volition, he ran the vessel ashore under a warning light he had seen and approached for several miles, the night being clear and many miles of open water to his port.

The disposition of one of the issues raised in the appeal disposes of the entire case. The bill of lading incorporated the Harter Act, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 190-195 , and that issue is whether the Chief Mate, who was employed by the Master of the vessel *786 shortly before her sailing on the day before the stranding, was incompetent when she sailed and hence the ship unseaworthy, and, if so, whether due diligence had been exercised to determine his competence pri- or to her sailing.

In considering this issue the court, in a trial de novo, considers the whole evidence pertinent to the issue, with a presumption that the findings of the District Court are correct. The Ariadne, 13 Wall. 475, 479 , 20 L.Ed. 542 ; Munson S. S.…