American Dredging Co. v. United States

The majority opinion concedes that the tug was negligent in coming into the slip too close to The Copeland. The tug’s acting captain, Hunt, admitted that the distance between the vessels was “about two feet”. The sole eye witness to the occurrence said that the tug was right up against the paint of The Copeland “about as close as he could get.”

There was no emergency here involved. The tug was engaged in a routine job of work which had been going on for years and the dredging operations, including the tug’s handling the scows, as the captain of the dredge testified, “were not set up in any way…