Paulsen V. Mcduffie

Plaintiff was a seaman employed by defendant in operating the ship "Kekoskee", which was moored at a wharf in San Francisco. At the time of his injury he was acting as boatswain and assisting in heaving in or bringing on board from the dock one of the ship's mooring lines. This line was a manila rope from six to eight inches in circumference. The work was being done by means of a steam winch, which consisted of a revolving drum, which was referred to by the different witnesses as the "gypsy head", "n****r head", or "spool". While engaged in this work plaintiff's blouse, a loosely fitting shirt, caught either between the strands of the line or between the line and the drum, and he was injured. He claims that this was due to defendant's negligent method of rigging the line, the defect in the line itself, namely, that its strands were frayed and loose, and this with the manner in which it was rigged caused it to slip or, as he described it, surge on the revolving drum. He was attempting to correct the latter difficulty when the accident occurred. He also claims defendant was negligent in not having the required number of men on the line.