The paddlewheel steamship LEXINGTON sank in Long Island Sound at 3 A.M. on January 14, 1840, after catching fire the night before. Only 4 of the 143 onboard survived. The fire was caused by burning coal in an improperly converted boiler designed to burn wood. The tragedy led to a landmark admiralty case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.  [ Continued ]

N.J. Steam Navigation Co. v. Merchants' Bank of Boston

[ 47 U.S. ( 6 How. ) 344 ( 1848 ) ]

"The decision by the Supreme Court in New Jersey Steam Navigation Co. v. Merchants' Bank of Boston (The Lexington) marked a turning point in American legal history. Federal courts sitting as courts of admiralty had been preoccupied with war and neutrality and the extension of maritime law to inland waters. But in the case of the Lexington the Court decided that the admiralty jurisdiction of the United States is not defined by limits found in ancient English statutes and customs. In the same case, the Court held that a marine carrier could be liable to a shipper for damage to cargo despite exculpatory clauses in the contract of carriage, anticipating the Harter Act of 1893 and the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of 1936. With these decisions, the Court prepared the courts of the United States to serve the emerging commercial needs of a proud new democracy."  [ Continued ]

[ Source: Abstract - Joseph Conrad Sweeney, "The Lexington," Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, Vol. 39, No. 1 ( 2008 ) ]
[ Image from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., Reproduction Number-LC-USZC4-3102 ]