Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/809

 802 FEDERAL REPORTER. �collision, and that, too, in moments oî excitement and con- fusion, when it was difficult to judge from the deck of the coUiding vessel with accuracy. Moreover, as we have seen, the effect of the collision, added to the movement which the Mason was then making, would have a direct tendency to put her, at that instant of time, in a position varying from her previous course, while at the same time these circumstances would be consistent with the fact that she had adhered to her course until a collision was imminent. The master of the Calkins says that he thinks the Mason changed her course because the Calkins made her green light, which indicated a vessel on the starboard tack, but this is upon the supposition that the Calkins had not crossed or was not crossing the Mason's course; for if she did cross her course, and ap- proached her on the leeward side, it would be the Mason's green light that would necessarily be observed, and, as we shall hereafter see, the master of the Calkins could not know, with certainty, that he was not intersecting or had not crossed the course of the Mason. So, too, the mate of the Calkins says that if the Mason had ,been on the port tack and the Calkins was lufiSng up, according to his calculations the Calk- ins would have been at least a quarter of a mile to the east- ward of the Mason, and he could not account for the situa- tion in which the vessels seemed to be plaeed; but when he saw the Mason he observed that she was ahead, crossing the bows of the Calkins, and he knew the Calkins was heading N. B. by E. J E., and then he says he knew the Mason waa heading to eastward and on the other tack. But this, too, is on the supposition or conjecture that the Calkins was to windward of the Mason and had not crossed her course, and his conclusion was of course fallacious unless his supposition was right, and it might be wrong. In like manner the look- out, Benson, says : "The Mason was heading eastward beeause the Calkins was heading northward, and the Mason was cross- ing the Calkins' bows;" ail of which is mere opinion, in the absence of actual knowledge of the Calkins' position with reference to the Mason's original course. AU of this testi- mony is largely matter of opinion, resting upon possibly mis- ����