Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/929

 922 FEDERAL REPORTER. �oiently heavy to tax her capacity, this brief porting of the tug's wheel had but little effect upon the position of the bark. It is evident that the tug wished to keep as near as she could to the northern bank of the channel, because there was the deepest water and the least risk of her tow grounding, and with this f act before me, and the testimony of her own officers as to how little and how late she ported her wheel, and with the testimony of those on the steamer as to how near to the north bank the bark was at the moment of collision, I have no difficulty in believing that the bark was well north of the center of the channel, and that the tug was in fault in taking the bark dangerously ana unnecessarily near to the course of the steamer. �The other question presented is, was the steamer also to blame? The testimony shows that the steamer was proceed- ing at nearly if not quite fuil speed. She was in command of one of the regular Chesapeake bay pilots, and he has testi- fied that in his judgment it was safe and prudent for him to bring the steamer np the channel at that speed, notwith- standing there was in sight ahead of him, a tug encumbered with a tow. �But several others of the Chesapeake pilots, of equal skill and experience, bave unqualifiedly expressed the eontrary opinion. They say that in the Brewerton channel, if there is no obstruction of any kind ahead, and every vessel within rea- sonable distance is well out of the way, so that the channel appears free, they deem it safe to proeeed at eight or even ten miles an hour ; but they aU agree that it is not prudent, and that it is never their practice, to run a steam-ship eight miles an hour (if she is of such draft that she must keep to the channel) when approaching a tug and tow. Their testi- mony is that in such cases they invariably slow the steamer down to half speed, so as to bave her perfectly in hand. �If we take the statements of the witnesses on board of the steamer to be literally true, it is evident that to them the channel must have appeared very much ôbstructed. They testify that although at the moment of passing the tug the steamer was so near the northernmost bank of the channel that ����