The Glannibanta
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Date | 1876 |
| Year | 1876 |
| Court | Court of Appeal |
Appeal - Reversal - Evidence - Collision - Look-out - Negligence.
Where the judge of the Court below has come to a conclusion of fact after hearing witnesses, the Court of Appeal will not, except in cases of extreme pressure, reverse his decision; but where the decision of the Court below does not depend upon the credibility of the witnesses, but on the inferences from the evidence drawn by the judge, his decision may, even without such pressure, be reversed by the Court of Appeal.
A steamer, with sails up, running through a roadstead ought even by day-time and in fine weather to have a man on the look-out besides the captain on the bridge.
THIS was an action for damages by the owners of the steamship Glannibanta, against the owners of the steamship Transit, for damages incurred in a collision; and there was a counterclaim by the owners of the Transit.
The action was heard before Sir Robert Phillimore, judge of the Admiralty Division, assisted by two Elder Brethren of the Trinity House; and the judge, after hearing witnesses on both sides, came to the conclusion that the Transit was in fault, and decreed judgment accordingly. The owners of the Transit appealed.
The facts of the case are stated in the following judgment.
May 17 and 18. Benjamin, Q.C., and Phillimore, for the Transit, as to keeping a look-out, cited The Iona.F1
Milward, Q.C., Butt, Q.C., and Clarkson, for the Glannibanta.
Cur. adv. vult.
May 29. The judgment of the Court (James, L.J., Baggallay, J.A., and Lush, J., assisted by two nautical assessors) was delivered by.
BAGGALLAY, J.A. On the 23rd of January, 1876, about 1 p.m., two iron screw-steamships, the Glannibanta and the Transit, came into collision in Yarmouth Roads, and both vessels sustained considerable damage. The weather was fine and clear, the wind in the S.W., blowing a light breeze, with no sea, and the tide on the last quarter ebb, running to the northward. It does not appear that the roadstead was unusually crowded with vessels, and it is difficult to imagine a state of circumstances under which with the use of reasonable precautions a collision was less likely to occur.
On the 25th of January an action for damages in respect of this collision was commenced in the Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, by the owners of the Glannibanta, against the owners of the Transit, and was met by a counter-claim for damages on the part of the latter.
The action came on for hearing before the judge of the Admiralty Division on the 20th and 21st of March. On the latter day the learned judge decided that the Transit was alone to blame, and made the usual order for assessing the damage sustained by the Glannibanta, and from that decision the present appeal is brought.
The Glannibanta was a vessel of 534 tons register, and was proceeding from London to the Tyne in ballast; the Transit was of 345 tons register, and was on a voyage from Grimsby to Dieppe with a general cargo. Shortly before the collision, the Glannibanta had come through Hewitt's Channel, and had passed the St. Nicholas light-ship on her course northwards, and the Transit had passed the Bell Buoy on her course southwards; the collision took place between the South Elbow and south-west Scroby Buoys, at a distance from the Scroby Sands of from a quarter to half a mile.
The plaintiffs allege that, immediately after passing the St. Nicholas light-ship, the Glannibanta, which had previously been steering N. by W., ported her helm so as to change her course to N. ½ E., and proceeded down the roads at the rate of about nine knots an hour; that shortly before 1 p.m. those on board her saw the Transit approaching, bearing about two points on the port bow, and at the distance of from a half to three quarters of a mile; that the helm of the Glannibanta was again slightly ported, and she was kept on her course with the intention of passing the Transit, port side to port side, but that the Transit, instead of passing the Glannibanta on her port side, suddenly, and with the apparent intention of crossing the bows of the Glannibanta, starboarded her helm, and, although the engines of the Glannibanta were immediately stopped and reversed, and her helm was starboarded, the starboard side of the Transit, abreast of her foremast, came into contact with the stem of the Glannibanta.
The defendants, on the other hand, allege that when the Transit first observed the Glannibanta, the latter was about a mile ahead, that the Transit was then heading about S. by W., well over to the east side of the roads, and proceeding at the rate of...
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