Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/644

 636 FEDEBAli BEl'OiiTER. �as ihose on board the schooner say it was, and as their proper course, by the chart, should have beeii, and they sup- posed, until they got close to her, that she was going ofif the westward, when she was really going to the eastward, then ail the maneuvers of the steamer and the consequent collision are accounted for. Or, if it be the fact, as seems possible, that those navigating the steamer did not see the schooner at ail until just before the collision, but must have been ob- serving another vessel, then the collision is accounted for. But no theory advanced by the claimants is, to my mind, sustained by the weight of testimony, or free from startling improbabilities. �The claimants rely, with some confidence, upon the testi- mony of Harper, the chief engineer of the steamer, to prove that the schooner must have been on the port side of the steamer. He says he looked out from the engine-room door, on the steamer's port side, and saw the schooner's red light, and it is manifest that he could not, from his position, see any object on the steamer's starboard eide. He says : "I saw this red light for about half a minute, then saw both her red and green lights, and shortly after that the collision took place." It is, therefore, quite possible that when he looked out and saw the red light it was because the steamer had ao far crossed the line of the schooner's course as to bring the schooner's red light where he could see it. �Nor does the testimony of the steward prove the claimant's defence. He was some 200 feet from the bow — the steamer being 280 feet long — and not, in a position favorable for observation. In his examination in chief he sa3^s: "I looked over the port rail and I saw a red light one-half to three- quarters of a point on our port bow, and from three-quarters to a mile off. Our ship was falling off to starboard under a port helm, and I continued to observe this light until she was just ahead of us, about 200 yards off, and then the next I saw she was coming right into us." He afterwards quali- fied bis statement, and says he does not know whether or not the helm was ported or not when he first saw the red light, but he says he did notice, after he saw the red light, ��� �