United States v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp.

WILLIAM C. COLEMAN, District Judge.

The question here presented is as to the responsibility for the sinking of a vessel, due to entrance of water through an outboard discharge valve, which had been left open during repairs, made by an independent contractor pursuant to contract, to the vessel’s main condenser, which repairs necessitated the removal of the condenser heads.

The respondent, the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, contracted by formal written agreement to repair the main condenser of the steamship Eastern Dawn, a vessel belonging to the United States and at the time operated under…