In re Defense Plant Corp.

BOYD, District Judge.

Petitioner, Defense Plant Corporation, in this proceeding seeks exoneration from, or limitation of, liability as owner of DPC 9 Inland and DPC 24 Inland, which were involved in a collision with the fender system and bridge of Apalachicola Northern Railroad Company across the Apalachicola River (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) in the State of Florida, on February 11, 1943. The barges, which were unmanned at the time, were being towed astern on a hawser in charge of the tug Mars and crew of the charterer, Butcher-Arthur Company, and were approaching claimant’s bridge when…