## Facts

- In March 1841, the American ship *William Brown* sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic, causing 31 passengers to die aboard the ship.
- Survivors escaped in two small boats; the longboat carried the first mate, eight seamen (including Alexander Holmes), and 32 passengers, and was overcrowded and taking on water.
- The captain instructed those in the longboat to obey the first mate’s orders, and the crew agreed.
- As conditions worsened, the crew concluded the longboat would founder unless lightened.
- Without drawing lots or obtaining passenger consensus, crew members began throwing selected passengers overboard to reduce weight; about sixteen passengers were killed, and no crew members were sacrificed.
- Holmes personally threw passenger Francis Askin overboard despite Askin’s request to wait until morning so lots could be drawn.
- The next morning, the longboat was rescued; all remaining aboard survived.
- Holmes was prosecuted in federal court for manslaughter on the high seas under the Crimes Act of 1790; the reported decision consists chiefly of the trial judge’s charge to the jury and related legal rulings.
- The jury convicted Holmes of manslaughter; the court sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment and a $20 fine.

## Issues

1. Whether extreme necessity or self-preservation can justify seamen killing passengers to save an overloaded lifeboat.
2. Whether seamen, as paid carriers owing duties to passengers, may lawfully prefer their own lives by sacrificing passengers.
3. Whether the killing proved constituted manslaughter on the high seas under the Crimes Act of 1790 rather than murder or no offense.

## Decision

- The court instructed that seamen generally have no right, even in extreme peril, to sacrifice passengers to save themselves, except insofar as maintaining the minimal crew necessary to navigate.
- The court distinguished murder (requiring malice) from manslaughter (unlawful killing without malice) and indicated the evidence did not require a finding of malice.
- The jury found Holmes guilty of manslaughter on the high seas, and the court imposed a sentence substantially below the statutory maximum.

## Legal Principles

- Necessity or self-preservation is not a complete defense to homicide where the defendant has a special duty to protect the victim.
- In survival situations among persons with no special obligations, self-preservation may excuse lethal struggle for the only means of safety; that rationale is limited to actors not bound to place another’s safety above their own.
- Seamen, as common carriers paid to transport and protect passengers, must share the passengers’ risk and may not select passengers for sacrifice to preserve themselves, beyond the number of crew required for navigation.
- Manslaughter is an unlawful killing without malice; the absence of malice may prevent a murder conviction but does not render the killing lawful.

## Conclusion

The case limits necessity-based claims in homicide by holding that seamen’s carrier duties to passengers bar a self-preservation justification for throwing passengers overboard, supporting manslaughter liability even in extreme maritime emergencies.


United States v. Holmes, 26 F. Cas. 360 (C.C.E.D. Pa. 1842)