stranding

Strand \Strand\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stranded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Stranding}.]
   To drive on a strand; hence, to run aground; as, to strand a
   ship.
   [1913 Webster]
    

STRANDING, maritime law. The running of a ship or other vessel on shore; it 
is either accidental or voluntary. 
     2. 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. Marsh. Ins. B. 1, c. 12, 
s. 1. 
     3. 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 Wisbeach 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. Marsh. Ins. B. 7, s. 3. 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. 
lb.; 1 Camp. 131; 3 Camp. 431; 4 M. & S. 503; 7 B. & C. 224; 5 B. & A. 225; 
4 B. & C. 736. See Perils of the Sea.