James E. Venable v. A/s Det Forenede Dampskibsselskab

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

From an adverse judgment on his claim for injuries sustained in a fall while stowing hogsheads of tobacco on one of defendant-appellee’s vessels, the plaintiff, James Venable, a longshoreman, brings this appeal. His challenge is to the validity of the judge’s instructions concerning the admiralty issues raised at trial.

Briefly stated, the testimony indicates that while working on a surface of previously stowed hogsheads in the appellee’s vessel, S.S. Oklahoma, appellant was engaged in stowing the next tier when he stepped backward into an empty space between hogsheads,…