Battling with waves and lawyers : $b a genuine history of perils of the deep and an authentic record of the most important shipping case ever dealt with in the supreme courts of Australasia
History
Battling with waves and lawyers : $b a genuine history of perils of the deep and an authentic record of the most important shipping case ever dealt with in the supreme courts of Australasia
Alert (Ship : 1877-1893); Liability for marine accidents; Navigation -- Australia -- History; Shipwrecks -- Australia -- Victoria
In addressing the jury, on behalf of the plaintiff, Mr. Smyth said
that he was astonished at the unwarrantable manner in which his
learned friend, Mr. Purves, had dragged Mrs. Kilpatrick’s name before
the jury. In the beginning of the case he (Mr. Smyth) had called Mrs.
Kilpatrick as a witness to testify as to her late husband’s age,
general habits, etc., and was then done with her. Since then his
learned friend, Mr. Purves, had served her, through Messrs. Gaunson
and Wallace, with a notice to appear on his behalf. Therefore, Mrs.
Kilpatrick had attended day by day in response to Mr. Purves’s
demand, and on that account only. She had no one to leave her infant
with, and consequently was compelled to bring the child to court.
Under these circumstances it was mean and contemptible for Mr. Purves
to put the construction he did on the presence of the plaintiff in
court. He (Mr. Smyth) would not make any remark concerning what his
learned friend, Mr. Purves, said about Ponting, as the latter was
perfectly able to defend himself. With regard to the statement made
that the owners of the _Alert_ had acted liberally in relieving the
sufferers, he (Mr. Smyth) failed to see where the liberality came
in. What were the facts? £1,200 were raised by public subscription,
toward which Messrs. Huddart, Parker contributed £100—exactly
one-twelfth of the whole—but they did not aid Ponting, the only
survivor from the wreck of their ship, to the extent of a single
farthing!
In continuation, Mr. Smyth said that the obligation was imposed on
the owners of ships not only to put them in a sea-worthy condition,
but to keep them so during every voyage. The certificates were
the permit to go to sea, but the owners to save themselves must
then take all reasonable precautions that the ship was sent to sea
in a sea-worthy condition, and through their agent, the captain,
that she was kept in a sea-worthy condition during the progress
of the voyage. The certificates were not conclusive evidence of
sea-worthiness, except as to the condition of the vessel at the time
of survey. He contended that the evidence proved that at the time
of the wreck there were such defects in the vessel as to make her
unsea-worthy. She was built for the Bay trade, and was never fit to
go outside.
[Illustration: Decoration]
[Illustration: Decoration]
KILPATRICK v. HUDDART, PARKER & CO., LTD.
EIGHTH DAY, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1895.
_Continuation of Mr. Smyth’s address to the jury._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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