VESSEL. A ship, brig, sloop, or other craft used in navigation. 1 Boulay-Paty, tit. 1, p. 100. The term is rarely applied to any watercraft without a deck ; U. S. v. Open Boat, 5 Mas. 120, Fed. Cas. No. 15967 ; but has been used to include everything capable of being used as a means of transportation by water ; Chaffee v. Ludeling, 27 La. Ann. 607.
By U. S. R. S. § 3, "the word 'vessel' in cludes every description of water craft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water." See The Annie S. Cooper, 48 Fed. 703.
A floating elevator towed from place to place, and used to transfer grain, is a vessel ; The Hezekiah Baldwin, 8 Bened. 556, Fed. Cas. No. 6,449. So of a scow adapted only for use in port in carrying ballast to and from vessels, having neither steam power nor sails nor rudder, and moving by steam tugs; Endner v. Greco, 3 Fed. 411; so of canal boats; id. (contra, Farmers' Delight v. Lawrence, 5 Wend. [N. Y.] 564); so of a scow built for carrying a steam shovel worked by the steam engine of the scow ; The Pioneer, 30 Fed. 206; and a barge having no sails, masts, or rudders and used only for the transportation of bricks, suitable only to be towed by a tug ; Disbrow v. Walsh Bros., 36 Fed. 607 ; so of a floating scow fitted with steam appliances for deepening channels ; Aitcheson v. Chain Dredge, 40 Fed. 253 ; a steam dredge; The Atlantic, 53 Fed. 607 ; The International, 83 Fed. 840 ; a barge and scow ; The Starbuck, 61 Fed. 502 ; Saylor v. Taylor, 77 Fed. 476, 23 C. C. A. 343. The means of propulsion makes no difference; The Devonshire, 13 Fed. 39, 8 Sawy. 209.
Vessel includes every description of water craft or other artificial contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of transpor tation on water ; U. S. v. Holmes, 104 Fed. 884 ; a barge with a pile driver thereon and moved from place to place by tugs; In re P. Sanford Ross, Inc., 196 Fed. 921; a structure intended for the transportation of a perma nent cargo as a scow, carrying a pile driver and engine, which has to be towed in order to navigate ; The Raithmoor, 186 Fed. 849 ; a derrick hoist ; The Sallie, 167 Fed. 880,
and a pump-boat, which consists of a float ing structure equipped with engines and pumps for pumping out coal barges, moved by poles or ropes, or towed; Charles Barnes Co. v. One Dredge Boat, 169 Fed. 895. Rafts are included in the general term of vessels; The Mary, 123 Fed. 609; but, quwre, The Annie S. Cooper, 48 Fed. 703.
Vessel is broad enough to include a vessel's tackle, apparel, furniture, chronometer and appurtenances ; The Frolic, 148 Fed. 921.
A vessel, although wrecked and abandoned by owners and underwriters and her register closed, but which, still retains her hull, though damaged, and her machinery, remains a vessel in a maritime sense, and is subject to dry dock charges,while undergoing repairs after she has been raised, and to a maritime lien for such charges ; The George W. Elder, 196 Fed. 137 ; so of a "foreign-built" yacht which burned and sunk and was repaired. but remained a "foreign-built" yacht ; U. S. v. Blair, 190 Fed. 372. A steamer which has been taken on shore by her owners for the purpose of being dismantled, and from which the masts and engines had been removed, so long as the dismantling process had not pro ceeded so far as to render her wholly inca pable of being navigated as a tow or other wise, continues to be a vessel ; The C. H. Northam, 181 Fed. 983. That a vessel is not enrolled or licensed does not affect the ques tion of jurisdiction to enforce a maritime lien against her, nor does it make any difference whether she is unfit for sea when a contract is made on her behalf ; if the object and ef fect of it be to enable her to pursue her busi ness upon the sea, it is in its nature mari time ; The George W. Elder, 196 Fed. 138.
An open boatis not a vessel ; U. S. v. Open Boat, 5 Alas. 120, Fed. Cas. No. 15,967 ; nor a raft; Moores v. Underwriters, 14 Fed. 236. An open clinker-built gasoline launch about 18 feet long, arriving at Seattle from a port of British Columbia and not shown to be a foreign vessel or to contain merchandise, is not required to report to the customs officer of the port; U. S. v. One Gasoline Launch, 133 Fed. 42, 66 C. C. A. 148.