Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/603

 negligence imperiling the safety of both vesselg. It tended to render his judgment erroneous or uncertain both as to the course of the Sansego and the navigation of his own vessel. It affected the accuracy of his observation in respect to how close to the wind the Scotia was sailing when her red light changed to green, and also in respect to how far his own vessel had fallen off under her port wheel; the two principal points which controlled or should have controlled his movements to avoid a collision. It is impossible to say that this ignorance on the part of the officer in command of the Star of Scotia was not the cause of the collision. I have not overlooked the argument for the Star of Scotia, that what the mate of the Sansego said to the wheelsman after the green light disappeared, which was that he should keep the sails full, was, or may have been understood to be, an order to keep off. I do not think it could have been so understood by any seaman. It was no more than a caution to keep her full and by the wind. The claimants rely on the evidence as to the angle at which the vessels struck, as shown by diagrams made by the various witnesses. They all, with the exception of the second mate of the Star of Scotia, make the blow of the stem of the Star of Scotia on the Sansego starboard quarter an oblique blow, angling towards her stern. They vary considerably in the angles they make. Such diagrams are of very little value. When two vessels are coming together thus, with the instant expectation of a collision, the minds of the witnesses are not fixed on the precise angle they make; and, especially in the night-time, their observation on such a point is liable to great uncertainty.

The second mate of the Star of Scotia makes the angle of the collision about 45 degrees, ranging forward on the starboard quarter of the Sansego, instead of aft, as all the others make it. This extraordinary error itself throws great doubt on the accuracy of his observation on other points, especially upon his testimony in respect to the heading of his own vessel. The angle may well have been sharper than any of the witnesses make it, Moreover, as it is uncertain on the evidence how much the Star of Scotia fell off the second time,