MA.RSLAND,· 'I1.TDB YOSEMITE.
MARSLAND
and others
'V.
THE YOSEMITE. October 31.1883
(District Court. S. D. Ne'IIJ York. 1. PLEASURE Y AeHTS-SHIPPING ARTICLES.
Seamen shipping on a pleasure yacht and signing shipping articles can only be dischargeJ IDconformity with the- ordinary maritime law, which does not justify ll. discharge for single acts of negligent disobedience.
2. SAMJ;i:-NoTICE.
Where shipping articles did, not provide for any definite voyage, but for service not exceeding six munths, payable monthly, heEd, while the vessel was in her home port and no voyage determined on, the sel'viee was terminable by either party at the end of the month on reasonable notice.
3. SAME-DISCHARGE-WAGES.
The chief engineer being discharged in the middle of the month, without sufficient cause under the maritime law, would be entitled to one month's wages. Where the first engintler, immediately upon his discharge, drew the fires of the engine on a cold winter's day, thus imperiling. the ship, contrary to the orders of the master and owner, and abetted all the reat of the engineer's department in leaVing the ship contrary to orders, held, that by these acts he forfeited all claim to the residue of the month's wages which-would otherwise have been awarded him. An alleged custom for the rest of the men in thc engineer's department to leave if the engineer is discharged, held illegal; ,
4.
SAME-DISOREDIENCE.
5, SAME-()USTOM.
In Admiralty.
BROWN, J. This action was brought by the chief engineer, and the first and second assistant engineers, of the steam-yacht Yosemite, to recover six pay. They signed shipping articles on February 1st, and' entered upon their duties thereunder on that day, and were discharged. on the 12th, by the owner, on the ground of disobedience of his order.s; The Yosemite was a pleasure yacht, which was expected during the season ensuing to makes. race across the Atlantic. She was at this time fitting out for the expected voyage. The owner's attentionbein.g directed to the Boiled appearance of the ventilators, which projected some eight feet above the deok, about noon of the eleventh of February he directed the chief ellgin.eer to have them cleaned bright, which the engineer promised to do. About 4 P. H. of the following day, the owner, upon boarding the vessel and finding no one at work upon them, and very little having been done to them, called the first engineer, and being dissatisfied with his excuses and his manner, discharged him at once. He then sent for the first assistant engineer and directed him to take charge of the engine, whioh the assistant refused to do. He was thereupon discharged. The owner then ,sent for the second assistant, and' asked him in like- manner to take che.rge of the engine. He also refused, and was likewise at once discharged. The first engineer, qn being discharged, went below and
Beebe, Wilcox et Hobbs, for· libelants. Benedict, Taft tt Benedict, for claimant.
-
--
832 . directed the fires to be drawn, which was done; and within half an hour all the men belonging to the engineer's department left the ship, including the oilers and firemen. On the Monday or Tuesday following, the chief engineer returned and proffered the services of himself and all the men in his department who had previously left. They were not accepted. The wages of the three engineers up to the time they were discharged were at that time tendered by the master in a check, on giving a receipt in full, which was refused by the libelant on the ground that he was entitled to wages up to that day. The owner testified that, several times previous to the discharge of the first engineer, he had called his attention to the ventilators, and directed them to be cleaned, and that the engineer had repeatedly delayed by excuses whicn seemed to him mere evasions. The first engineer testified that the first that was said to him about cleaning the ventilators was at 4 P. M. on the day previous; that he then at once set his men to work getting ready to clean them, and thltt a beginning was made that afternoon; that the following' day was too stormy to work ; and that, although it cleared up in, the afternoon, he was at work below and had not observed that the weather was suitable, so as to put lllell upon the job again in the afternoon before the owner called. He also testified that this work did not belong to his department, but to the deck hands.' He did not make this objection, however, when directedto clean the ventilators, but promised to clean them; and it appears that these ventilators were specially for the benefit of the rooms of the engineer's department below, and that it bad been customary on this vessel for the men of that department to attend to them. , Taking all the evidence together, I am satisfied that there was no predetermined intent by the chief engineer to disobey or,evade the o:wner's orders to clean the venteators. I am inclined to think the owner mistaken in supposing that he had ordered them QIElaned before: Friday. But the chief engineer is shown to be guilty of plain neglect of orders in doing no cleaning on Saturday,' after'l.o'clock, when the weather became suitable ; and tbe owner, on arriving at 4 and finding substantially nothing done, was justly inceI1sed t :,and his displeasure was naturaI1y increased by the plainly! insufficient excuses ,offered. At· the 'bOttom the chief engineer's neglect was doubtless his misapprehension of the duties 9f his department in regard to cleaning the ventilators; to wh,ich the receipt of orders through the owner instead of through the ,master, who was all the time on board, and also a want, possibly, of a.full appreciation of the. requirements of that scrupulous nicety which is proper in all the appointments of a pleasure yacht,may have contributed. But these conside.rationsare but palliatives, and no justifiGation, of his -neglect. Judged by the rules pertaining to service on land, the owner, might have legally discharged him, but not by the rules and usages of the sea, to which both· parties, by the nature of the servo
or
v.
THE YOSEMITB.
ice ana the signing of shipping articles, had become amenable. Up to the time of his discharge, the chief engineer's conduct, though negligent and blamable, had not been, in my judgment, either malicious or flagrant, nor in any way endangering the safety or'discipline of the ship; and when discharged, though excited, his manner to the owuer-says the captain-was neither insolent nor disrespectful. In such cases, by the maritime law, single acts of negligent disobedience of orders are not sufficient to justify a seaman's discharge. There must be repeated acts of this character, with still a locus penitentice, before a complete discharge from the voyage or shipping contract will be sustained. Curt. S'eamen, 148-150. And although the particular duties required of seamen upon a pleasure yacht will doubtless differ from those required on ordinary steamers, just as the duties of seamen on board of steamers are different from those'on ordinary sailing vessels, yet the general principles applicable in a court of admiralty to the discipline and discharge of the men who ship on board under shipping articles must be the same in all. If the exigencies of the yatching service require more arbitrary powets in the owner or master, these powers must be 'sti'pulated for in the articles, and be brought home to the express knowledge of the seamen. In this case the shipping articles did 'not provide for an.y definite voyage, but only for general service "not exceeding six months, h payable monthly. Under such a contract, so as no definite voyage is entered upon or agreea to by some further understanding of the parties, and -while the vessel is remaining in the homeport,as in this case, I think either party at liberty to terminate the service at the end of any month, on reasonable notice. The Orusader, 1 Ware,44S. In this view the chief engineer would have been entitled to one mouth's wages, except for the subsequent occurrences to which I shall presently refer. The refusal of the first and second assistant engineers, respectively, to take charge of the engine, when requested to do so, upon the discharge of the chief engineer, was immediate and direct, without any excuse at the time, and without any justification or palliation shown on the trial. The testimony of the' first assistant, that he had no license as chief engineer, and that he did not think himself capable of taking sole charge for a racing voyage to Europe, is not pertinent. The circumstances did n()tindicate that he was directed or expected to become chief engineer, but only to assume temporary charge until the engineer's place could be supplied; and this involved no more responsibility than the ordinary duties which he had been accustomed to perform.. The same is true of the second assistant. . In the cold weather then prevailing it was necessary to ,the safety of the ship to maintain the fires in the engines and have some one to take charge of them. The refusal to do this was after itwas known that the chief engineer bad been discharged; and the assistants immediately pro-
·FEDERAL. REPORTER.
ceeded with the chief engineer to draw the fires, though forbidden by the master to do so; and all the m,en in the engineer's department forbidden to leave. There shortly after left the shipwith jeers, can be no doubt that all the men in the engineer's department, from the chief engineer down, after the discharge of the latter, were acting concert. Not only did everyone refuse duty, or leave contrary to orders, but the chief engineer, on the Tuesday following, proffered the services of all in a body; and on the trial evidence was offered of a custom for the men to' be engaged and to leave with the chief engineer. The evidence and the custom were ruled out as incompatible with the shipping articles and with the discipline of the ship. It is evident that a word from the chief engineer would have prevented the departure of all the rest of the men, which was semi-mutinous in character, and would have been prevented by force had the ship not been moored to the wharf. I cannot resist the conviction that the drawing of the fires contrary to the master's orders, the refusal of the first and second assistant to attend to the engines, and the qeparture of all the men in the department against the master's .protest, was a concer,ted movement, which, if not directly instigated engineer,had his sanction ,and support, and which, under by the circumstances, must be mainly chargeable upon him, since a word from him .wouldhave Pl!6vented it.. The chief engip.eer's act of drawing the late on Saturday afternoon of a cold day, and ,in effect,abetting the departure of the first and second· assistants, which furnil'hed the only plausible reason for drawing the fires, were acts safetyof the vessel; ap.d for these acts, clearly malimust cious, in which the first and second ,assistants concurred, all be held, in a court of admiralty, to have forfeited the residue of the month's, pay to which they would otherwise have been entitled. The amounts tendered in the answer will be decreed, but without costs since that time.
THE WM.
H.
BEAMAN.
(District Oourt, S. D. New YO'1'k. 1. ,COLLISION-VESSELS RoUNDING BEND.
October 22,1883.)
In rounding a bend peHher of two approaching vessels has a right to assume ,that'the other will hold her exact course by but only hlJr relative sit"llatiQn in the stream. . Neither should change tlleir relative situation in tIle stream when they are "apprdacliing, so as to involve danger of collision, without timely notice to the othlJr by $;gnahvhistleil. ." c."
.' 2.f:)AME-SIGNAL.
3 ·. ,
Where the tug T., having a ,tow ona hawser, was coming down the East 'river, <With a strong errlJ"tide, near the middle of the stream, and on approaching , tl,le BaUery ran in towards shore h)' a sheer, crossing the courllc
STATED,
.;
.