Forbes v. Merchants' Exp. & Transp. Co.

Citations

• 111 F. 796
• 1901 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104

Syllabus

<p>Shipping—Loss of Cargo—Unseaworthiness of Barge.</p> <p>A vessel some 50 years old, wliicli liad been used'as a steam propeller until she had become unfit for such service, and afterwards converted into a freight barge, sank at a dock with her cargo during the night, after she had been loaded. The evidence showed that the immediate cause of her sinking was a leak due to the springing of a plank in her hull, the spikes which held it having become loosened. The only peril' to which she was subjected was that from the swells caused by passing vessels, and that was one which was usual and ordinary, and was withstood by other vessels at the dock without injury. Held, that the presumption arising from such facts was that the barge was unseaworthy, and that her sinking was due to that cause, in the absence of evidence establishing some other adequate cause.</p>