Nathan Clifford

“ If in the case of a salvage service by their steamer, the libellants here stand as favorably before the court as if they were natural persons, and not a corporation, why should they not stand equally well in the case of services performed by their agents and servants? ”

“ The corporation aggregate, which is but a mode of substituted service, is one of the great forces of civilization. It is the prevailing form of the associated energies, the money, enterprise, and intelligence of society. It is particularly adapted to those branches of business like salvage and wrecking, which require a permanent organization, costly appliances, trained services, and considerable capital, which is content with slow or uncertain returns. ”

“ If the company is capable in law of performing a salvage service at all, upon what principle can we distinguish against it, as compared with other salvors who are natural persons, in respect of the liabilities, which are the same undoubtedly, or of the rewards of the service? ”

“ For the carrying on of a salvage or wrecking business on a large and effective scale, there is really no comparison between the efforts of individuals casually employed for the occasion, often but poorly provided with vessels or other appliances, and under any circumstances unprepared for any long, remote, or costly enterprises, on the one hand, and on the other, a powerful company like the libellants, established expressly for the business ”

“ Corporations, it is said, are not entitled to salvage remuneration, because no party, as the argument is, can be so entitled except such as actually engages in rendering the salvage service; but if that is the reason for denying such compensation to corporations, then it is clear that the owners of vessels must also be excluded from participating in any such reward, as they seldom or never navigate their own ships. ”

“ Agreements of the kind suggested ought certainly to be set up in the answer, as it is not every agreement which will have the effect to diminish a claim for salvage compensation. On the contrary, the rule is that nothing short of a contract to pay a given sum for the services to be rendered, or a binding engagement to pay at all events, whether successful or unsuccessful in the enterprise, will operate as a bar to a meritorious claim for salvage. ”

“ An enlightened public policy strongly demands that the means of salvage service should be the most efficient possible, and to that end should be always prepared, prompt, powerful, and reliable. Hence the court of admiralty has not hesitated to accept all beneficial modes and instruments of salvage service, which from time to time are developed by the progressive forces of society, even though it may depart from a settled rule of decision. ”

“ Thus the old rule, that none can claim salvage reward who did not directly take part in person in the salvage service has been so often broken down, that it is now an exception, rather than the rule. As where a ship sends part of her crew on salvage service, the crew who remain on board are entitled to share in the salvage earned. ”

“ Modern text-writers, without an exception, uphold the right of the owners of ships and vessels, whether propelled by steam or otherwise, to claim salvage compensation when such services are rendered by their vessels, whether they are present or absent at the time the service is performed; and the author of the latest work published upon the subject states that one-tenth of all the salvage awards collated in the Digest of the Decisions in Admiralty by the English courts are to owners and vessels, boats, tugs, and steamers. ”

“ Adjudged cases, besides those already cited, are quite numerous, where salvage suits have been instituted in the name of the ship or of the owners, without any allegation that the suit was prosecuted for the benefit of the master and crew, and no case is referred to where it has been held that the claimants, even in the court of original jurisdiction, can abate the suit on that account. All persons interested may appear, on the return of the monition, and become parties to the suit, or, by some proper proceeding, have their rights adjudicated ”

“ When steamers render salvage service the court held, in the case of The Kingalock, [26] that they are entitled to a greater award than any other set of salvors rendering the same service, because they can perform such services, owing to the power they possess, with much greater celerity than other vessels, and with much greater safety to the vessel in danger, and frequently under circumstances in which no other assistance could be effectual. ”

“ The company's men are well paid, and have made no such claim, nor is there any allegation of fear that they will. There is no tender of money in court, and because it is alleged that the owners may have to pay the crew, not one of whom asks to be paid by it, it will pay nobody.
Moreover, the objection is not made on the answer. It cannot be first made here.
III. The service, in this case, was eminently a salvage service. It presents, in a very high degree, all the ingredients of a salvage service, which are as follows: 1. The danger from which the property was rescued. 2. ”

“ Both the ship and the cargo belonged to the claimants, and they immediately abandoned the whole adventure to the underwriters, and the agent of the underwriters, though he declined to accept the offer of abandonment, commenced without delay to employ the best means in his power to raise the vessel and save the cargo, calling into requisition for that purpose all the nautical experience and mechanical skill at his command, but his efforts were fruitless, except that he succeeded in dismantling the ship, and in saving a small portion of the cargo. ”

“ Certain unreported decisions of the district judges are referred to where a contrary doctrine is held, but they appear to overlook the fact that vessels disabled, or otherwise in need of assistance from the shore, depend, everywhere at this time on our coast, almost entirely upon steamtugs, constructed and equipped for the purpose, and whose business it is to be always ready and at command whenever assistance is required. ”

“ They are all cases of a substituted service, in which persons removed from the field of operations may claim as salvors, on the strength of the actual service rendered by some person or property, which stands in their place, and is their substitute for the time being. ”

“ II. Next proposition of the claimants is that the libellants, even if they may be regarded as salvors, were not the sole salvors, and consequently that the decree of the Circuit Court ought not to be affirmed, as it would not be a bar to a subsequent suit for the same services if instituted by their employees. ”

“ So in The Sarah Jane, [2] where salvage of 800 was paid to the master of the salving vessel, under an agreement between the owners and masters of such vessel and the owner of the vessel salved, action was successfully sustained by some of the crew of the salving vessel, dissatified with the distribution of the 800 so paid; Dr. Lushington concluding his judgment in these words:
'I regret much the hardship that will be experienced by the owners of the Sarah Jane, in thus being called upon a second time to pay a salvage remuneration. ”

“ III. If the defence is not sustained on that ground, then the claimants contend that the services rendered were not salvage services, because, as they allege, they were rendered under an agreement for a fixed sum. ”

“ Aided by a steamtug she attempted, on that day, to proceed to the wharf where she was to unload, but was obliged, by the state of the wind and tide, to come to anchor before she accomplished that object, and at midnight she encountered a heavy squall, which caused her to drag her anchors, and forced her into a more unfavorable position. ”