Nelson v. S. Willey Steamship & Navigation Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Mount, J.

On June 18, 1900, appellant was a common carrier conducting a line of steamers between Olympia and Seattle, in this state. Respondent was an ordinary deck hand on board the “City of Aberdeen,” one of appellant’s steamers. This boat carried a gangplank weighing some eight or nine hundred pounds, for use in unloading freight, etc. While this steamer was lying at her dock in Olympia on the date mentioned, the gangplank was standing at an angle of forty-five or fifty degrees, connecting the steamer with her dock. When the boat was about ready to…