Margate Shipping Company v. M/V JA Orgeron, 143 F.3d 976 (5th Cir. 1998).

Kristen M. Fletcher, J.D., LL.M.
 

The Fifth Circuit recently decided a case about the destiny of Poseidon. Named for the God of the Sea, the barge Poseidon was carrying a valuable external fuel tank for NASA's space shuttle when it found itself in the rough seas and winds of a more recent "god of the sea," Tropical Storm Gordon in November, 1994. As a result of a valiant rescue of Poseidon and her accompanying vessel, the Orgeron, Margate Shipping received a salvage award of $6.4 million, the largest maritime award in history. The case reached the Fifth Circuit on appeal to contest the award amount.

The facts behind the two-day rescue effort are as follows. On November 13, Poseidon, pulled by her tug escort, Orgeron, rounded the southern tip of Florida in the voyage from Martin Marietta's assembly plant in Louisiana to Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral. Though they met with increasingly severe winds and heavy seas generated by the tropical storm, NASA requested the boats continue. The Orgeron eventually found itself without power and adrift, in danger of losing both her own crew and the NASA fuel tank. With the Coast Guard unable to assist, the Orgeron's captain was ready to release the barge for the safety of the crew when Cherry Valley, a 688-foot oil tanker owned by plaintiff Margate Shipping and carrying nine million gallons of heavy fuel oil, answered the cry of help. Cherry Valley managed to pull the tug and barge out of shallow waters but still had to ride out the sixty knot winds and fifteen to twenty foot seas of the storm. After endangering its cargo and its crew, the Margate anchored in deeper waters. After holding there for two long days, another tug was able to relieve Cherry Valley and Poseidon finally finished its voyage to Cape Canaveral.

The court determined that the lower court properly applied the maritime law "Blackwell factors" when determining the value of a salvage award. In the case, the lower court considered the labor expended by Cherry Valley, its promptitude, skill and energy, risk incurred in the rescue effort, the value of Cherry Valley as the property which carried out the rescue, the degree of danger from which the Poseidon and the fuel tank were rescued, and the value of the property saved. The Fifth Circuit agreed that Cherry Valley's salvage efforts earned the highest possible award but lowered the total award to $4.125 million as a result of a reduction in the value of the NASA fuel tank.
 
 

University of Mississippi