Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/696

 e8e FSCBBAIi aEPUliXEB. ���The Scotia. (District Court, E. D. Wiseonsin. October Term, 1881.) �1. Collision— Fault fbom Want dp Due Vigilance and Caution. �A schooner on reaching a point in the river dropped her anchor to await the arrivai of a tug, She was probably about 300 or 350 feet from the sliore at the time, thechannel at that point beingal)out one-quarter of a mile wide. While in this position, with her anchor light displayed, a tug, with an extensive raft of logs in tow, approached her from the north. At about the same time a pro- peller entered the river under checked speed, approaching the tug, which had all its signal lights burning. The raft in tow caught the anchor chain of tho schooner and dragged her down the river towards the propeller, when a collision ensued between the propeller and the schooner, occasioned by the maneuveis of the propeller. Held, that there was devolved upon the propeller the duty of exercising a degree of caution and vigilance commensurate to the occasion, and that under the circumstances of this case such caution was not exercised. �In Admiralty. Suit in rem. �George C. Markham, for libellant. �Cottrill e Cary, for elaimant. �Dyer, D. J. This is a suit in rem prosecuted by the libellant, as owner of the schooner J. 0. Thayer, to reoover damages for injuries (•esulting from a collision with the propeller Scotia. The collision occurred in the Detroit river, ofi Boia Blapc island, at about 11 o'clock in the evening of October 25, 1875. The facts, which may be said to be established by the tesfcimony, are as follows: �The Thayer was making a trip from Buffalo to Racine, "Wiseonsin, and on reiiching a point in Detroit river, near to or just above the head of Bois Blanc island. in the evening of the day named, dropped her anchor and awaited the arrivai of a tug by which she might be towed to Lake Huron. There is some dispute as to the distance from her place of anchorage to the island; but the weight of the evidence is that she was not lying in mid-channel, but was quite close to the island shore, probably from 300 to 350 feet from that shore. The testimony shows that the channel at that point is about one-quarter of a mile \vide. There was a vessel lying at anchor above the Thayor, and another smal! vessel lying about 60 feet astern, and somewhat nearer the island shore than the point where the Thayer was at anchor. While the Thayer was in this situation, with her anchor-light displayed, a tug with an extensive raft of logs in tow approached her from the north. At about the same time the pro- peller Scotia, on a voyage from Buffalo to Chicago, entered the mouth of the river, and proceeded, under checked speed, on her course up the river. The night was dark and misty, and there was a stiff wind blowing from the south- east. The tug with the raft in tow, carried, in addition to red and green lights, two bright lights placed one above the other, indicating that she had a tow. There were lights, also, on the raft. As the tug approached the channel be- ��� �