Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/103

 THE HOPB. 89 �the lights under the cîrcumstances ealled for the iitmost eîr- cumspection. It indieated action on the part of the schdoner not only uncalled for but improbable, and it sholild ' liavq aroused suspicion in regard to the movementa of that vessel, and caused the master of the steamer, having stopped his ves- sel, to hold her where she wa8 until the location and ïûëve- ments of the schooner were placed beyond ail doubt. Àcôord- ing to the master tue red light showed him that the schooner would pass him safely on his port hand without any action on his part ; and he started his vessel again, not for the :pur- pose of ayoiding the schooner, but because.he had been led into the belief that the schooner, by bearing away, had avoided him, and was.then upon a course that would oarry her safely by on his port hand. �I think that the circumstanees hairdly, justify the master of the steamer in coming to that conclusion so soon as he did. An instant more of delay would have shown him that he had been misled into supposing that the schooner had borne away ; and, in the exercise of the great caution demanded by the cir- cumstanees, when once he had stopped his steamer he should have delayed starting her again until the schooner had in fact passed him. �Upon these grounds I hold the collision in question to have been occasioned by fault on both sides, and accordingly must apportion the damages between them. ���The Hopb and the Feeddie L. Poetee. {District Court, D. Maine. September 27, 1880.) �1. CoLMSioN — Statembnts OF Ckew. — Coui'ts of admiralty are generally �inclined to accept the stateraents of a crew, as to the movements of their own ship, ratlier tlian those coming from those on board an- other vessel. �The Empire State, 1 Ben. 19. �2. S.^ME— OoKPLicT OF Testimont.— In casea of collision, where there is �a great conflict of testimony, the court must be governed chiefly by undeniable and Icading facts, if such exist in the case. ����