Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/656

 WILLIAMS V. eTEAM-TUG Wll. COX. 649 �she?" he replîed several times, "AU riglit." It is quite evi- dent that up to the timo they discovered she had settled he had not realized the peril hia boat was in ; and it is quite improbable that he should have requested a movement of the tow wbich would be virtually an abandonment of the voyage for the time being, since nothing had happened which excited auy special alarm on his part; and, so far as he had observed, his boat was getting along well on her hazardous voyage, the known perils of wfaich he had voluntarily conssnted to her being subjected to. �When it was found that the boat was sinking he aeked the captain to put her in somewhere, and lie claims now that she could have been beached in Buttermilk channel; butthetes- timony shows that the captain of the tug took the course which offered the best chance of saving her, in attempting to run her into some dock on the New York side of the East river, and that she could not, in the state of tide and wind then existing, have been beached at the place indicated by the libellant. It must be taken, therefore, as a fact in the case, that the libellant acquiesced in the taking of the barge upon the voyage as she was taken, and in the prosecution of the voyage as it was prosecuted, up to the time when she was ^ observed to be sinking. Then it was too late to save her from the consequences of that imprudence with which both parties are chargeable. �In my judgment the case cannot be distinguished from that of The Wm. Murtagh, The rule laid down in that case is believed to be in the interest of commerce, and of the safety of property, and, if stuietly enforced, it will have a strong tendency to break up the very dangerous practiee of crossing the bay in rough weather with open boats. If it is under- stood that the practiee involves loss to both parties, in case of disaster traced to this cause, it may make boatmen and tug pilots alike more cautious about taking the risk. It is a risk that endangers life as well as property, since these canal- boats are often the homes of the boatmen and their familles. �Deeree for libellant for half the damages, with costs, and a reference to compute the amount of the damages. ����