The John F. Gaynor

Citations

• 115 F. 382
• 1902 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225

Syllabus

<p>Collision — Steamer at Rest — Passino Tus with Tow.</p> <p>An incoming British steamship in charge of a licensed pilot stopped off the quarantine station in the Delaware river in the usual place, which was near the western side of the channel, to undergo the customary medical inspection. She did not anchor, and it was not customary to do so.- While so lying, with the quarantine flag up, and while the examination was being made, a tug came down the river with two heavily laden scows without rudders in tow on a line some 1,400 to 1,600 feet long. Each vessel saw the other when a mile distant, and the tug understood the position of the steamship and the purpose for which she had stopped. The tug was properly on the westerly side of the channel, but there was ample room for her to pass to the eastward of the steamship, so as to avoid any danger of collision. She passed so close, however, that both of the scows sheered, and struck the steamship, which had not moved, and injured her. Held, that the tug was solely in fault for the collision in failing to keep at a safe distance in passing.</p>