Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/308

 296 FEDERAL REPORTER. �ascerfained that the Saxe was not in motion. The master testifies that he did not find out that she was at anehor until he was "right along-side." As soon as he discovered that, he put his helm hard a-starboard, bringing his boat to the east, across the bow of the Saxe, and easily clearing her. The scows, however, being under consider- able headway, and carried onward also by the strength of the tide, did not readily yield or respond to the changed course of the tug. The foremost one followed the Ant to the east, barely escaping the easterly pontoon, and struck the bow of the Saxe. The rear scow drifted to the west, and came in collision with the western pontoon. When the master of the Ant first perceived that one of the scows was going to the east and the other to the west of the Saxe and the pon- toons, he reversed his engine, and slacked up the hawser, "to give the scows a chance," he says, "to go around if they would." When he found that they would not go around he seems to have hooked up his engine again with the inexplicable intention of disengaging the scows from the pontoons by main force, and pulled upon the entangled mass of beats with such energy that the position of the Saxe and the pon- toons was 80 changed that, instead of lying north and south with the tide, they were turned across the bay from east to west. The last scow had drifted around the bow of the western pontoon, and had engaged with the chain under the bow of the canal-boat. In the violence of the effort of the Ant to get clear, the bow of the Chandler, being aground, was torn away, and some of the timbers and portions of the deck came up, fioating on the surface of the water. The libel is filed to recover the damages done to the Chandler, and for the loss of a part of the cargo, consequent upon the injury to the hull. Two questions at once suggest themselves for consideration : �(1) Was there sueli carelessuess and want of skill in the navigation of tho Ant as to cause the collision ? �(2) Did the lights exhibited by the C, J. Saxe mislead the Ant and thus contribute to the disaster? �1. I have no doubt about the legal liability of the Ant. Itwas her duty, being the following steamer, to keep out of the way of the libellant. The tow of the Saxe was aground and helpless, lying on the westerly side of the usual ehannel down the bay. The weather was favorable for safe navigation. There was not enough wind to excite remark or attraet observation on either side. The night was clear, or only slightly obscured, at most, by drifting clouds. There was ample room for the Ant to pass on either side, and no valid ��� �