Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/262

 BBAINARD V. STEAMER 5ABBAGANSETT. 25* �steamer's course had changea duririg the minute before the collision from west by south to north, She had turned north- •ward, but she was not headed north. �The schooner must have been headed north- west, or there- abouts ; but it is difficult for me to find satisfactorily why her green light should not have been visible to the steamer some minutes before the collision, when she was upon her west by Bouth course. The theory of the steamer is that the schooner was being reefed immediately before the collision, and at the time when the colorless Ught was seen, and that, at the in- etant of the collision, she had changed her course and was headed north north-west. In my opinion the reefing took place at a considerably shorter time before the collision than the schooner's officers now think, and that the men had only just gone below, after reefing, when the mate and lookout became alarmed at the approaching steamer, and that a less time than these witnesses now think elapsed between the time when the steamer was first seen and the collision, but that the reefing had been completed. There is no evidence which satisfies my mind that the schooner changed her course to north-west at the instant of the collision. Without undertaking to find affirmatively why the lights were not visible, I find simply that the steamer was in the exercise of due diligence, and that the lights were not capable of being seen. For this fact I rely much upon the appearance and manner of Captain Walden, which impressed me favorably; upon the fact that he was for several hours continuously be- fore the collision in the pilot-house, in attendance upon his duty ; that it was his business and duty to look out for lights ; that there was no inducement to be negligent, but that there was every motive to be careful; and upon the farther fact that it is plain to my mind that the schooner was not upon a north-east course, and that the steamer's theory is right in this respect, and that the schooner's witnesses are mistaken. It is sufficient to find that the collision did not occur through the negligence of the steamer. �The schooner had a torch which was ready for use, and ����