Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/262

 BTBXTOB V.TVa MABaABET. 255 �Btbetch vs. The Tuo Maegahet. �{District Court, 8. B. MieUgan. April 8, 1880.) �ADMiBAi/rT— DuTY OF Tow— LiABiLiTT OP TuG— It is the duty of a tow to be steered properly, to follow in the wake of the tug, and do ail that nautical skill requires for the proper management of such tow. Where a vessel being towed cairied so much sail that the tug could not, at the critical moment of her entering the harbor, control her either ag to course or headway, hdd, that it should not be liable for damages aug- tained by such vessel in consequence thereof. �In Admiralty. �Ackley & Farr, for libellant. �(?. G. Markhaus, for tug Margaret. �WiTHEY, D. J. In seeking to enter the harbor of Lnding- ton, the Bchooner Mary was taken in tow by the tug Margaret, June 20, 1878, about 9 o'clock in the evening. She was about five miles south of the south pier, and three or four miles out from shore ; wind from the north-west, from 15 to 20 miles an hour. The course taken to reaoh the harbor was about north by east; speed about three or four miles an hour, the Bchooner carrying her mainsail, foresail, and fore-staysail. The two piers at Ludington run due west from the shore; the south pier extends into the lake about 200 feet further than the north pier, so that the vessel in entering the harbor had to round the south pier. The same course was contin- ued af ter the tug took hold of her until the tum was made to go into the harbor. In entering, the sohooner went off to the northward, and north of the north pier, when the Une was eut by the tug. During the night the schooner was damaged from the position she occupied, and this suit is brought to indemnify her for such damages. The sea was running so that the current tended to carry the vessel leeward. The captain of the schooner states that -when within half a mile of the south pier he ordered the mainsail lowered, and it was slackened about one-half down, or a little more; that the tug kept its course, passing the end of the south pier at about 100 ����