The Harmonides
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 07 November 1902 |
| Date | 07 November 1902 |
| Court | Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division |
Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division
Barnes, J.
The Harmonides
Collision — Passenger ship — Damages
354 MARITIME LAW CASES. K.B. DIV.] THE HARMONIDES. [ADM. PROBATE, DIVORCE, AND ADMIRALTY DIVISION. ADMIRALTY BUSINESS. Nov. 3 and 7,1902. (Before BARNES, J.) THE HABMONIDES. (a) Collision - Passenger ship - Damages - Proper method of assessing value of vessel sunk by collision. In assessing the value of a large passenger steamship running in a regular line, the test in a collision action is, not what she would fetch if sold in the market, but what was her value to the owners as a going concern at the time she was sunk. MOTION by the owners of the steamship Waesland in objection to the report of the Liverpool District Registrar. (a) Reported by CHRISTOPHER Head, Esq., Barrister-at Law MARITIME LAW CASES. 355 ADM.] THE HARMONIDES. [ADM. On the 5th March 1902 a collision occurred in a dense fog in the river Mersey between the steamship Waesland, belonging to the Red Star Line, and the steamship llarmonidea, of the Houston Line, in consequence of which the Waetland sank and was totally lost. The Waseland at the time was on a voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia with a general cargo and passengers. At the trial of the action the Harnumides was found solely in fault for the collision, and her owners subsequently obtained a decree limiting their liability, under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, to 8l. per ton, and paid the sum of 27,1281. into court with interest from the date of the collision. At the reference before the district registrar and merchants at Liverpool, claims amounting in all to 80,4772. were put forward by the owners of the Waetland, owners of cargo on board, and others. Of this sum, the owners of the Waesland claimed 29,777l. as the value of their vessel at the time of the collection, and in support of their claim affidavits wore filed by the senior partner in the firm of managing owners, and by a former general manager of the Cunard Steamship Company. As against these an affidavit of Mr. Lachlan, a partner in the firm of Lachlan and Co., official values to the Court of Admiralty, was filed, in which he gave it as his opinion that the market value of the Waesland was 16,5002., exclusive of the equipment for passengers. No witnesses were called in support of either of these allegations, and the registrar came to the conclusion that 18,0002. was a proper value to put on the vessel, and allowed this sum...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Singapore Bus Service (1978) Ltd v Gwee Sok Ai trading as Chuan Bok Wong Trading
...that it had been damaged beyond economic repair: at [22] and [24]. Birmingham Corporation v Sowsbery [1970] RTR 84 (refd) Harmonides, The [1903] P 1 (distd) Hebridean Coast, The [1961] AC 545 (folld) Owners of Dredger Liesbosch v Owners of Steamship Edison [1933] AC 449 (refd) Toh Kok Seng ......
-
Voaden v Champion (Baltic Conveyor, Timbuktu)
...of otherwise effecting such indemnification without exposing him to some loss or burden, which the law will not place on him." 67 In The Harmonides [1903] P 1 the vessel was totally lost, not damaged. Gorell Barnes J held that in the absence of a market value the test was what the vessel w......
-
Abyei Arbitration
...Experts' Report, Part I, p. 15. 1115 ABC Experts' Report, Part II, Appendix 2, p. 23. 1116 Sudan Intelligence Reports, No 110 (September 1903), p. 1 (SPLM/A Annex FE 1117 Sudan Intelligence Reports, No 127 (February 1905), p. 2 (SM, Annex 8, SPLM/A Exhibit-FE 2/6). 1118See supra, paras. 623......
-
Lagden v O'Connor
...authorities as to the measure of damages for the total loss of a profitable vessel, and (at 65) quoted Gorell Barnes J in The Harmonides [1903] P 1, 6: "the real test … is … what is the value [of the vessel] to the owners, as a going concern, at the time the vessel was sunk". Scrutton L J ......