Brown v Board of Trade
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 18 December 1890 |
| Docket Number | No. 63. |
| Date | 18 December 1890 |
| Court | Court of Session |
Lord President, Lord Adam, Lord M'Laren, Lord Kinnear.
ShipShipping casualty appealThe Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (17 and 18 Vict. c. 104), sec. 242Wrongful act or defaultExpenses.
In an inquiry at the instance of the Board of Trade into the circumstances of the loss of a steamship in the Bristol Channel, it was proved that she suddenly sprang a leak at night when a few miles from shore; that the master, who was on the bridge, was at once informed of the leak by the engineer, and on looking into the engine-room saw an inrush of water through the engine-room floor; that he thereupon gave orders to have the engines stopped, but failed to have the water-tight bulkhead closed and to use the pumps; that he then took to the boats along with the crew, and the vessel sank shortly afterwards. The Sheriff-substitute found that the master was in default, in terms of the 242d section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and suspended his certificate.
The Court refused an appeal by the master, holding that his failure, through unreasonable panic, to take measures open to him with a view to saving the ship amounted to a default on his part, but found no expenses due, as the bulk of the evidence led and printed related to a portion of the case which was departed from by the Board of Trade when the case came before the Court of Session.
James Brown, formerly master of the steamship Ashdale, of Glasgow, appealed under the 2d section of the Shipping Casualties Investigations Act, 1879, &c., against a decision of the Sheriff-substitute of Lanarkshire (Erskine Murray) with assessors, finding that he had been in fault, in terms of the 242d section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,* in prematurely abandoning his vessel, and suspending his certificate for six months. The decision appealed against was given on the conclusion of a formal investigation held at Glasgow on 17th and five following days of October 1890 into the circumstances attending the loss of the Ashdale, an iron steamship of 117 tons register, in the Bristol Channel, on 10th September 1890.
In their report to the Board of Trade, the Court found, for the reasons stated in the annex hereto, that the Ashdale sank in consequence of an inrush of water into her engine-room, the cause of which is not apparent: Suspends master's certificate for six months.
Appended to the report was an annex from which it appeared that the Ashdale was on a voyage from Cardiff to Tralee when the accident occurred. It bore, inter alia;After taking in a full cargo of coals with a little coke and bunker coal, she left Cardiff at 3 p.m. of the 9th September, at her usual draught when loaded, with a freeboard of about 12 inches, having on board a crew of eleven hands all told, including James Brown, the master, who held a certificate of competency No. 91,514, Thomas Dearness, engineer, and Duncan M'Kerrell...
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