Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/601

 THE LEIPSIC. 589 �approve the agreement, — that is, to inquire into the circumstances under which the agreement was made, — and that otherwise their posi- tion in court would be as if no agreement were made. There was no disagreement between the parties as to what service was to be ren- dered, or as to the place to which the Leipsic was to be towed. The Gresham was to tow the Leipsic, and was to tow her to Sandy Hook. The only dispute was as to the compensation. The captain of the Gresham wanted more than iE3,000. The captain of the Leip- sic insisted on less than ^94,000. The captain of the Gresham came down to i63,000. The captain of the Leipsic refused to make the agreement unless the added words should be added, becauae he thought je3,000 too high. Under these circumstances, the words "prove the said agreement" can mean nothing except "approye the said agreement for £3,000 as to its amount." That being so, the court is at liberty to inquire whether the £3,000 is a sum which would be awarded if there were no agreement. �On the facts of this case I think this was a salvage service. TJn- able to use her steam machinery, it not appearing that it could be repaired at sea, having rejected offered assistance from a steamer, neglecting to signal passing steamers, keeping this up until the 12th, ordering rocket signais to steamers that night, hailing the bark on the 12th to report her with a broken draft, the Leipsic induced the Gresham to go back 40 miles to find her. She was drif ting nortb - easterly in the current of the gulf stream, which was a direction iu which she did not want to go. She was under sail for seven days. In six days she had sailed but 216 miles. She was still 125 miles from Sandy Hook, and approaching the coast near the equinoctial seasou. Within the rule laid down in The Princess Alice, 3 W. Eob. 138, there was here certainly something more than employment to expedite a voyage, — something more than accelerating the progresa of the Leipsic. She was to be taken to a port to which she was not destined to repair her disabled machinery, In The RewMd, 1 W. Eob. 174, it was said: �"Mere towage service is eonflned tj vessels tliafc have received no injury or damage;" and " mere towage reward is payable in those cases only where the vessel receiving the service is in the same condition she would ordinarily be in without having eneountered any damage or accident." �The law as laid down in The Princess Alice was approved by the privy council in The Strathmore, L. E. 1 App, Cas., 58. The cases of The Reward and The Princess Alice were cases of assistance by steam-tugs to sailing-vessels. In The Jubilee, 42 Law Times Eep. ��� �