Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/813

 806 FEDERAL EBPOBTEB. �light he thinks she was one-quarter of a mile off, and to lee- ward of the Mason. The mate says when the Calkins' green light was seen, she was about one-quarter of a mile away, and that when he saw both her lights her distance was about 600 feet. The wheelsman says that when he saw the Calkins' green light she was from 600 to 700 feet away; that when he saw her red light she was from 300 to 400 feet dis- tant, and that when he put the Mason's wheel hard down the Calkins was from 150 to 200 feet distant. The master tes- tifies that when he saw the Calkins' green light he judged she was a quarter of a mile away to leeward of the Mason, and that this light disappeared when the two vessels were between one and two hundred feet apart, and he instantly ordered the wheel hard down. Simmons, one of the crew, who came on deck from the watch below, says the Calkins was about 500 feet distant when he saw both her lights. �On the part of respondent the testimony tends to show that the two vessels were about a mile or a mile and a-half apart when the hom of the Mason was first heard, and that they were not much more than a vessel's length apart when the Mason's light was seen. The witnesses differ in their testimony pf the time that elapsed between the lirst signal heard and the time of the collision, and as to the time between the discovery of lights and the collision, and in , estimates of time and distance there is a greater liability to error; but I am convinced that the Calkins' lights were seen OA the Mason before the Mason's lights were seen on the Calkins. �Now, it is plainly shown, by respondent's proofs, that the movements of the Calkins proceeded wholly upon the sup- position that she had not crossed the Mason's course, and I regard it equally clear that if she was about to cross, or was crossing, or had crossed her course when the signais were first heard, then the movements she made were just such as might bring the vessels together. It is a most singular cir* cumstance that it does not seem to have occurred to the master of the Calkins, when he changed the course of his vessel, nor even when he saw the Mason's lights, that he ����