Mattes v. Standard Transp. Co.
District Court, S.D. New York
In Admiralty. Libel in personam by Victor Mattes and others against the Standard Transportation Company for seamen’s wages. The respondent is a British corporation and at the time in question was the owner of the Wabasha, flying the British flag. She sailed from Bombay in the early part of 1920, and reached New York with a Chinese crew in April of that year.
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In Admiralty. Libel in personam by Victor Mattes and others against the Standard Transportation Company for seamen’s wages. The respondent is a British corporation and at the time in question was the owner of the Wabasha, flying the British flag. She sailed from Bombay in the early part of 1920, and reached New York with a Chinese crew in April of that year. This crew deserted while in New York, and the master was forced to engage another crew, consisting of 45 or 47 men, of whom the libelants, 29 in number, were a part. They were made up of various nationalities, largely Portuguese, who were…
1Opinion of the CourtLearned- Hand, District Judge
(after stating the facts as above). It was apparently the early rule that mere incompetence would not justify a master in discharging a seaman at a foreign port. Capillo v. Bristol Packing Co. (D. C.) 112 Fed. 439; Sherwood v. McIntosh, Fed. Cas. 12,778 (semble). The master’s powers were only to degrade the seaman to such services as he was capable of performing and upon eventual payment to deduct from his services whatever was the loss occasioned by his incompetence. In this respect the incompetence was put upon a different basis from insubordination or deliberate shirk*1021ing of duty, The T. F.…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Raftery v. The T. F. OakesU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Oregon · 1888
- Capillo v. Bristol Packing Co.District Court, N.D. California · 1901
- The BerthaDistrict Court, D. Washington · 1901
3Cited by3 opinions
- Weeks v. Matson Nav. Co.District Court, S.D. California · 1939
- McAvey v. Emergency Fleet Corp.District Court, D. Massachusetts · 1926
- Russell v. States Steamship Co.District Court, D. Oregon · 1973