Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/808

 WOLF V. SCHOONER SERTIE CALKINS. 801 �heading S. S. W.; that he gave no command to change the the helm till the green light of the Calkins disappeared and her red light was alone visible, when the collision heing im- minent he ordered the wheel put hard down, and the vessel Bwung, in response to her changea helm, as the collision occurred, going off S. S. E. This is the positive evidence upon this question on behalf of the libellants. Is the court justified in disbelieving and adopting the oposing theory of respondents, especially when the evidence in support of that theory is, to a considerable extent, inferential and argument- ative ? �Witnesses swear that the Mason must have been on the starboard tack and out of her course, because otherwise she would not bave been struck by the Calkins on the starboard side. But this is opposing theory and opinion to positive testimony. The wheelsman of the Calkins says he cannot tell how the Mason was heading when struck, but thinks she ■was heading eastward; that after she was struck she was heading about S. E. The steward testifies that as near as he can guess the Mason was heading E. S. E. Other wit- nesses speak of her position, after the collision, as pointing eaetward. In considering this testimony it is to be borne in mmd that it is a conceded fact that when a collision appeared imminent the Mason's wheel was put hard down and was lashed to that position, so that the vessel must have been swinging up in the wind when struck. And, added to the movement thus given by a starboard helm, the force of the blow given by the Calkins would tend to accelarate that movement and swing her off in the precise direction in which it is claimed she was heading at or after the collision." The respondents' case is destitute of any affirmative evidence other than certain alleged admissions, to which I shall pres- ently refer, to show that when or about the time the horn of the Calkins was first heard the Mason luffed and changed her course so that she stood on the starboard tack. And I can hardly doubt that when witnesses express the opinion that she was pointing S. E., or eastward, they are speaking from observations of her position made immediately after the v.2,no.9— 51 ����