The Erskine M. Phelps

Citations

• 131 F. 1
• 65 C.C.A. 239
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4255

Syllabus

<p>1. Seamen — Injury in Service — Duty oe Ship to Make Nearest Port.</p> <p>The master of a sailing ship on a voyage to Honolulu was not chargeable with a neglect of duty which renders the ship liable in damages because he did not return from the vicinity of Cape Horn to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, which was the nearest port, and 540 miles distant, with a seaman who received an injury in which both bones of his leg below the knee were broken, where the mate, who had some surgical skill and experience, took charge of the injured man, and set the bones, which united firmly, but, by reason of the fracture being oblique, overlapped, producing a shortening of the leg, and where, while the ship could probably have made the islands in two or three days, the season was midwinter, when the. days were short and cold and storms prevailed, and it was further shown without contradiction that the entrance of the harbor at Port Stanley by a ship of her size was very dangerous, and likely to take several days at that season, and that vessels went there only as a last resort, and in cases of dire necessity.</p>