Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/589

 582 FSDEBAL BEPOBTEB. �MoBBis, D. J. This libel was originally filed by the own- ers of the French brig Briha, a fishing vessel of 150 tons, against the British ship George Bell, 1,100 tons, for a col- lision whicb took place on the ninth of August, 1878, off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in consequence of which the fishing vessel was sunk, with the loss of two of her crew, and ail the property on board. When the case came on for hear- ing, the court {Hughes, J.) held that the ship George Bell was solely to blame, and the case was referred to a master to compute the damages. Exceptions are now taken to the master's report, and it is these exceptions which are now to be passed upon. �The first exception is to the sum allowed by th« master as the value of the Briha at the date of the collision. The tes- timony shows that she was built in the port of St. Servan, in France, in 1876, for the libellants ; and that she was espe- cially built for the purpôse for which she was being used; and that she oost, without paying any builders' profit, and without outfits, 43,600 francs; and that to have purchased her from a builder she would bave cost 50,000 francs. �The proof shows that a proper allowance for deterioration from use is 10 per cent, for the first, and 5 per cent, for the second year. The testimony taken in France with regard to her cost, her superior solidity, and her excellent condition when she left France on her last fishing voyage, and as to the cost of similar vessels at the time of her loss, is satisfactory and convincing, and I am satisfied that she was worth to the owner ail the master bas allowed, viz., 40,000 francs, and that she could not have been replaced for less money. �Much testimony was taken to show that vessels of the same tonnage, which English and American fishermen con- sider superior to her for the business of fishing off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, could be built or purchased for a considerably less sum in the United States or Great Britain or Canada; but what the libellants are entitled to have re- stored to tbem is a French fishing brig of the kind French fishermen are willing to use for the business, and as such ves- sels are constantly built in France for the purpose, and there ����