Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/409

 402 PEDBBAL REPORTEE. �ing her course at ail till the steamer answered her two whistles by two whistles. The fault waa especially gross beoause of the peculiarities of the navigation at this point making it diffieult for steamers to pass on the flood tide other- wise than these two were passing before the tug first changed her course. She was also at fault in having no proper pilot at the wheel and no lookout. �The real question in the case, however, is whether the Franconia is not also chargeable with negligence whioh contributed to produce the collision. If such was the fact, the libellant, as an innocent third party, has the right to recover his damages against either of the offending vessels, however unequal their respective faults may have been. The Atlas, 93 U. S. 302. �That it was a fault, or omission of proper caution or dili- gence, on the part' of the steamer not to notice the first signal of the tug, cannot be doubted. The steam-whistle of the tug is shown to have been loud enough to be distinctly heard a mile or more, and this particular signal was distinctly heard on the schooner. The reason why it was not heard or noticed on the steamer is immaterial. As suggested by counsel, those on the steamer may have then been especially attend- ing to the schooner, and to their movements to pass her safely. Or it may be that, seeing the tug safely, as they thought, on their port hand, and having no reason to expect any other movement on her part except to keep her course, they expected no signal and anticipated no trouble from her, and so their attention was remitted. But the duty of keep- ing a good lookout never ceases, and her position relatively to the steamer was clearly such as to require that her move- ments should be watched and her signais observed. This was not done. It was a fault, but did it contribute to the collision? Under the rules of navigation, also, the tug hav- ing given a signal was entitled to an answer. Her signal was a proposition to the steamer to pass each other on the starboard hand. The steamer made no answer. This was •also an omission of a duty imposed on the steamer. Did ����