Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/882

Rh boat in the stern, and inflicted such severe injuries that she had to be towed ashore and beached; that libellant's boat was under the control of the Vim, and entirely helpless and unable to avoid the collision; that she was seaworthy, and properly manned and equipped.

The libel then proceeds as follows: "Your libellant charges, in general terms, both the tug Vim and the schooner Spartel for the said collision. The channel is many miles in width at the place of the collision, and there was no need of the schooner and the tug coming in contact, and it was gross negligence for them to have done so. Your libellant particularly charges negligence in the steam-tug and the schooner for not having seasonably seen each other." Then follows the statement of damage and the prayer for process.

To the libel the owners of the schooner and the owners of the tug, both of whom have appeared as claimants to defend the suit, have filed the following exceptions: (1) That it does not allege any particular act of negligence on the part of the said schooner, [or steam-tug,] except that she did not see the said steam-tug [or schooner] in time; (2) that it does not state which way the wind was blowing or the tide running; (3) that it gives none of the particulars of the collision.

The exceptions are well taken. The rules in admiralty require the libel to contain a statement of "the various allegations of fact upon which the libellant relies in support of his suit, so that the defendant may be enabled to answer distinctly and separately the several matters contained in each article." Adm. Rule 23. The practice under this rule requires a plain statement of the movements of the two vessels as they approached each other, their courses, and the mode in which they were sailed or handled, and the circumstances of wind and tide, where these have any bearing on the case, as they generally have, and also a distinct statement of the acts of negligence or faults of navigation which are claimed to have caused or contributed to the disaster, and such a statement of the circumstances of the collision that the connection between the alleged faults and the collision, as cause and effect, can be plainly understood. This libel contains no such