Stranding

The running of a ship or other vessel on shore; it is either accidental or voluntary.

It is accidental where the ship is driven on, shore by the winds and waves; it is voluntary where she is run on shore, either to preserve her from a worse fate, or for some fraudulent purpose.

It is of great consequence to define accurately what shall be deemed a stranding, but this is no easy matter. In one case a ship having run on some wooden piles, four feet under water, erected in Wisheach river, about nine yards from shore, which were placed there to keep up the banks of the river, and having remained on these piles until they were cut away, was considered by Lord Kenyon to have been stranded. In another case, a ship arrived in the river Thames, and, upon coming up to the Pool, which was full of vessels, one brig ran foul of her bow, and another of her stern, in consequence of which she was driven aground, and continued in that situation an hour, during which period several other vessels ran foul of her; this, Lord Kenyon told the jury, that unskilled as he was in nautical affairs, he thought he could safely pronounce to be no stranding.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.