Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/699

 THE SCOTIA. ]687 �off, and had to make their observations at a distance and in the dark- ness of the night, and at the same time attend to the navigation of their boat. The circumstances, taken together, tend quite strongly to indicate that the collision between the Thayer aud the raft was not of a serions character. It was not sufficient to impede the progress of the tug and the raft, for the master of the tug states that he was not aware at the time that the raft had strackthe Thayer. No injury was done to the raft, as was found on examination af ter its arrivai at Toledo, and I do not think that the contact of the Scotia with the Thayer, which certainly occurred more than once, is reasonably ex- plainable on the theory that the raft was all the time foui of the Thayer and dragging her against the Scotia. That the Thayer did strike the vessel lying astern of her is true, but that would have a tendency to arrest her momentum and to separate her f rom the raft ; and I think the circumstances tend to establish the conclusion that the Thayer came to anchor again near the place where the vessel which had been astern of her was then lying. �The master of the Scotia testiaes that as he passed the tug he saw the Thayer. She was then at anchor. The raft had not yet struck her. The vessel was over 1,000 feet distant from the Scotia. The master of the propeller says also that he then saw the raft, and that he immediately stopped both engines of his boat and laid to. Now, I am strongly impressed with the belief that if this position had been maintained, or if the Scotia had then bogun backing with both en- gines, the collision would have been avoided. At that juncture, when a vessel at anchor was lying ahead, and a tug, with a heavy raft in tow, was passing, there was devolved upon the Scotia the duty of exercising a degree of caution and vigilance commensurate to the dangers of the situation. The Virginia Ehrrnan, 9T U. S.; 315 ; Mills v. Steam-boat Nathaniel Holmes, 1 Bond, 353. I am convinced that such caution was not exercised. �Concerning what was done the master of the Scotia testifies : �" I then saw the raft, and that it was very close to the ihayer's bow, and I think I spoke to the mate and said, 'I think there is room under that ves- sel's stem for us if we can get under there before the raft catches her.' I then put my wheel to starboard, and backed both engines and went ahead on the starboard engine, which had a tendency to slew the boat a little to the current westward." �He says further, that when he saw the raft strike the Thayer, he stopped the starboard engine and rang the bell to back, but that the raft dragged the vessel faster than the Scotia backed. ��� �