Wake-Walker v SS Colin W Ltd

On August 13, 1934, HMS Dragon under the command of Captain Frederic Wake-Walker was entering the Market (or Victoria) Basin in the harbour of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. After entering the basin, it attempted to avoid colliding into the Saguenay Trader, but it subsequently collided with an oil bunkering steamer, the Maplebranch, which was securely moored at the time of the collision. The Maplebranch sank.[2] The owners of the Maplebranch sued Wake-Walker for the damages to the Maplebranch and its cargo.

Wake-Walker's appeal was dismissed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The opinion was delivered by Viscount Sankey which noted:

In their Lordships' view the real question is that which Mr Justice Demers proposed to himself and which the Supreme Court of Canada also proposed to themselves: "Has the defendant established that this was an inevitable accident?" It was contended by the learned counsel that there was no duty upon him to anticipate the movement of the Saguenay Trader in the Basin. Their Lordships, however, are of opinion that whatever may have been the right of the defendant, after he had received notice from the Harbour authorities, to expect an empty berth, he had no right to expect an empty Basin, or a Basin either devoid of ships or with ships absolutely motionless.[4]

Therefore, the Privy Council agreed with the courts below that Wake-Walker had not discharged the onus to prove that the accident had been inevitable.[4]

Vice Admiral Sir W Frederic Wake-Walker, Third Sea Lord, 1944

In spite of the finding of liability, Wake-Walker continued to rise in the Royal Navy. Promoted to rear-admiral in 1939, he was involved in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Ships under his command played a key role in hunting the Bismarck in 1942, and he was heavily involved in creating the flotilla of landing craft needed for Operation Torch in North Africa, and later the Normandy landings on D-Day.