The Major William H. Tantum. Shoe et al. v. Low Moor Iron Co. et al.

The Major William H. Tantum. Shoe et al. v. Low Moor Iron Co. et al. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. December 14, 1891.) General Average — Voluntary Stranding — Saving of Life. Where the master of a vessel, which was dragging her anchor in a gale and in danger of going ashore, slipped the cable, and voluntarily stranded her, in substantially the same place, under the same conditions, and with the same result to her cargo, as must necessarily have soon resulted from her dragging anchor, held no case of general average. 46 Fed. Rep. 125, affirmed. In Admiralty. Appeal from a decree of the district court of the United States for the southern district of New York, dismissing the libel of the libelant. Affirmed. The schooner Major William H. Tantum, loaded with a cargo of iron, went for refuge inside the Delaware breakwater, September 8, 1889. The bad weather developed into the great storm of September, 1889, and the vessel gradually dragged her anchors, until the 10th, when some of her anchor chains gave way, and at 4 o’clock in the afternoon but a single one remained, and the vessel was drifting towards the beach, broadside on. In this situation, her master, fearing for the lives of those on board, determined to slip his cable and run ashore, head on. The cable was accordingly slipped, and the vessel, without canvas, paid off and went head on the beach, afterwards turning broadside to the sea, and becoming a total loss. Part of the cargo was saved, and forwarded to its destination. The ship-owner claimed a general average, and brought this suit against the cargo-owner to recover $2,939.03, the amount charged against the cargo by the average adjusters. The district court held that the act of the master in slipping his cable was done for the purpose of saving life, and with no other motive, and therefore dismissed the libel. 46 Fed. Rep. 125.. The libelants thereujion appealed to this court. Wing, Shoudy & Putnam, for appellants. Sidney Chubb, for appellees. Before Wallace and Lacombe, Circuit Judges. Reported by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., of the New York bar. [MAJORITY — Per Curiam.] Per Curiam. At the time she slipped her cable, the Major William H. Tantum was on the eve, not of foundering in deep water, as her counsel contends, but of going ashore. Her hatches were not even started, she was making no water, and, at the rate at which she was drifting, all the indications were that she would., in a few minutes, ground on the beach, to leeward of her, broadside to the seas. The master slipped his cable, and thus hastened the end, not averting any imminent peril of foundering in deep water, selecting no more favorable locality for stranding, and, though she struck bow on, swinging afterwards broadside to the seas; in other words, as the learned district judge expresses it, stranding her “substantially in the same place, under the same conditions, and with the same result to the cargo,” though by striking bow on there was secured a better chance to save the lives of all on board. No case of general average is made out. The decree of the district court is affirmed, with costs.