Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/395

 388 FEDERAL REPORTER. �horse-power. On the second day of Oetober, 1879, about 8 o'cloek in the evening, the low-pressure piston broke, knock- ing out the cylinder bottom, knocking down the escape valve and the stuffing box, and bending the piston-rod. This ren- dered the low-pressure cylinder useless, and, for the time being, she was entirely disabled in her maehinery. The high- pressure cylinder was uninjured, but could only be brought into use by at least two days' work. It would, however, bave been practicable in two or three days, with the appliaiices on board, to have got the ship under steam with the use of the remaining engine. In fact, she afterwarda crossed the At- lantic with the use of that engine alone. After the accident they disconnected the propeller, and attempted to proceed under sail, but in this they do not seem to have succeeded. She had two masts, with square sails on the foremast, and fore and aft sails on the mainmast. �I think the evidence will not warrant the conclusion that she could have made her port under sail alone. She burned blue lights as a signal of distress, which were seen by the Plainmeller about 2 o'cloek on the morning of the third of Oetober. When first seen she bore a little on the port bow of the Plainmeller. It was a clear moonlight night. The place where the vessels met was latitude 40 degrees, 24 minutes, north; longitude 69 degrees, 44 minutes, west, or very near that. The nearest port was Halifax, about 450 miles distant. The distance to New York was about 662 miles. The drift of the gulf stream at that point is a little to the southward of east, and the Adirondack was drifting to the southward of the usual track of westward bound vessels. The Plainmeller came up under the stem of the Adirondack and hailed her. The master of the Adirondack told the master of the Plainmeller that his maehinery was disabled, and asked what he would tow him into Halifax for. Ihe master of the Plainmeller at first named £5,000, and then £4,000, for either Halifax or New York. The master of the Adirondack offered £1,000, refused the offer of £4,000, and told the master of the Plain- meller to report him in New York. The Plainmeller, how- ever, stood by her, drifting away and coming up again three ����