Rank v. Alaska Steamship Co.

This is an action under the Jones act, 46 U. S. C. A. 277, § 688.

The plaintiff was thirty years old and had been a sailor for ten years. He had made several previous voyages for the defendant. On March 19, 1953, he was injured while unloading cargo on defendant’s ship “Nadina” at Seward, Alaska. The cargo was one-hundred-pound paper sacks of fertilizer stowed in tiers nine and ten sacks high. After the removal of several tiers, the crew came to the tier in question. The bottom sack had not been laid flat, which would have provided a stable support for the tier, but on edge in a slanting…