explaining seaworthiness is "a relative concept, dependent in each instance upon the circumstances"
How later courts described this case
- explaining seaworthiness is "a relative concept, dependent in each instance upon the circumstances"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
BIGGS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
In my opinion a ship is unseaworthy if it does not have equipment on board which will permit the moving of a heavy weight, such as a 540 pound drum of oil, by some other means than by pushing and pulling it along a steel deck on a shovel. The libellant, Brown, was injured during the course of this grotesque operation and it is clear that he would not have been injured had a dolly been available and been employed.
For these reasons I dissent from the order denying rehearing en banc.