Baker Salvage Co. v. The Excelsior
District Court, E.D. Virginia
In Admiralty. Libel for salvage. The passenger and freight steamer Excelsior, belonging to the Potomac Steam-boat Company, claimants in this suit,—Theodore E. Baldwin, master,—left her wharf in Norfolk at 5 p. -m. on the fourth of December, 1882, on her regular trip to Washington City. She was valued at $150,000. She had a cargo worth $10,000, and the usual number of passengers, and her regular crew, on board.
Read the full summary
In Admiralty. Libel for salvage. The passenger and freight steamer Excelsior, belonging to the Potomac Steam-boat Company, claimants in this suit,—Theodore E. Baldwin, master,—left her wharf in Norfolk at 5 p. -m. on the fourth of December, 1882, on her regular trip to Washington City. She was valued at $150,000. She had a cargo worth $10,000, and the usual number of passengers, and her regular crew, on board. After passing Sewell’s point, and in making for the wharf at Fortress Monroe, she came in collision with the United States naval tug Fortune, which drove a hole into her hull, on the…
1Opinion of the CourtHughes, J.
Obviously, the service rendered by these libelants- to the Excelsior was a meritorious salvage service. They were telegraphed for as salvors. They left Norfolk and went to the Excelsior for the purpose of rendering salvage service. If their agent, Capti Stoddard, had assented to the protestation of Capt. Baldwin that this was not to be a salvage service, he would not have altered the fact, or destroyed the rights of his employes as salvors, or changed the character of the service already entered upon. It is not the policy of the law maritime, when a vessel is in peril and has invoked the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- The BlackwallSupreme Court of the United States · 1870
- The CamancheSupreme Court of the United States · 1869
- French v. The ExcelsiorDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia · 1882
3Cited by2 opinions
- The ApacheDistrict Court, E.D. South Carolina · 1903
- Atlantic Towing Co. v. The CalicheDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia · 1942