“ We can see no reason why the shipowner's liability does not in like fashion extend to the foreseeable obligations of the stevedoring contractor for compensation payments to the representative of a longshoreman whose death was occasioned by the shipowner's breach of his duty to the stevedoring contractor.
We do not, of course, hold that the shipowner's duty to the employer is the same as to the employee. Nor do we disapprove the Court of Appeals' holding that the shipowner does not owe to the stevedoring contractor the absolute duty of seaworthiness owed to individual longshoremen. ”

“ And we can perceive no reason why Congress would have intended so to curtail the stevedoring contractor's rights against the shipowner. The exclusivity of the statutory compensation remedy against the employer was designed to counterbalance the imposition of absolute liability; there is no comparable quid pro quo in the relationship between the employer and third persons. On the contrary, as we emphasized in Ryan Stevedoring Co. ”

“ Marine Terminals has charged Burnside with negligence not as a defense to the latter's Ryan claim but in a counterclaim for damages, and we have considered that claim without regard to the implications of the shipowner's countervailing cause of action. Our holding is perforce limited to a rejection of Burnside's argument that 'a shipowner's tortious conduct may be used as a shield, but not as a sword.'
In holding that the stevedoring contractor has a direct action in tort, we do not preclude the possibility of a direct action under some other theory. ”