MUTUAL MARINE UNDERWRITERS OF BUFFALO Claims Division — File No. 1912-PH-4417 Policy No. HS-0918, HUME SHIPPING COMPANY, INSURED Vessel: S.S. Iphigenia — total loss declared 11 November 1912
COVER MEMORANDUM To: Charles Reddick, Esq., for Hume Shipping Co. From: Owen Fazackerley, Senior Adjuster Date: 17 March 1913
Dear Mr. Reddick,
Pursuant to our correspondence I enclose the Company's copy of the claim report of the third instant. I note that the Inquest verdict of misadventure is duly recorded and that the policy pays at the reduced gale-rate as we discussed. The final settlement figure is $187,400.
I take this occasion to acknowledge your firm's courteous assistance throughout the adjustment and to express the regret of Mutual Marine at the circumstances giving rise to the claim.
Yours very truly, [signed] Owen Fazackerley
REPORT — EXCERPT
§ 4. PROXIMATE CAUSE.
The Adjuster, after review of (i) the Coroner's Inquest findings of 15 January 1913; (ii) the Company's internal engineering memorandum dated 8 January 1913; (iii) such wreck inspection as was practicable during salvage operations of 14-19 November 1912; and (iv) the surveyor's report of Jenkins & Pitch of Detroit, dated 3 February 1913, finds:
The proximate cause of loss was failure of the starboard main boiler under the combined stresses of heavy weather and prolonged mechanical laboring. Failure was of a pattern consistent with fracture at the longitudinal seam under cyclic stress. The secondary cause was admission of lake water to the engine room through the engine-room skylights, which had been unshipped in the gale.
§ 5. WEATHER CONDITIONS.
Meteorological records from the Port Hume and Cleveland stations show sustained wind-speeds of 42-48 knots with gusts to 61 knots through the hours of the sinking. Seas were reported at 18-22 feet by other vessels in the region. These conditions exceed the threshold for extraordinary weather as defined in the policy (§ 2.7).
§ 6. GROUNDING.
The matter of whether the vessel grounded on the "south reef" so-called (a submerged ridge at approximately 42°11′N, lying some sixteen nautical miles north of the Port Hume breakwater) prior to or subsequent to the boiler failure has not been fully ascertained. Salvage of the wreck is incomplete. Hull plating from the starboard forefoot shows impact damage consistent with grounding, but the sequence is not dispositively established by the physical evidence available. The Adjuster proceeds on the premise that any grounding was consequent upon loss of steam, as this is the finding consistent with the Inquest and with the surveyor's report.
[margin stamp: "Ref. junior adjuster's field notes, 14-19 Nov. 1912 — see separate folder."]
§ 7. DETERMINATION.
The claim is allowed, at the reduced extraordinary-weather rate (75%) per Schedule A of the policy.
[Final paragraph, typed, with small carets and strikeouts, above Fazackerley's signature:]
The Adjuster notes for the record that certain of the survivor testimony taken at the Inquest was heard in closed session and was not available to this review. Nothing in the open record suggests that the closed testimony would alter the finding of proximate cause. The Adjuster makes no inference from its absence.
[signed] Owen Fazackerley Senior Adjuster, Mutual Marine of Buffalo