Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/108

 ?e FEDERAL REPOnTE?.. �the change of course by the sloop is of a suspicious charactef, and, as before intimated, the court is not quite satisfied that the change could have been aocomplished while the mate was running a distance not exceeding 50 feet. I believe, however, that the mate testifies truly when he admitg that he saw the sloop on her port tack, but I fear that he designedly misrep- resents the time when it occurred. He went on the lookout at 8 o'clock, probably saw the Hope shortly af ter, and discov- ered that she was on her port tack. There were other vessels in the vicinity, and I suspect that he neglected to keep a watch of the sloop and failed to mark her course, and did not notice the time when she tacked. Through bis neglect the vessels came in contact, and in excuse of his negligence he is quite ready to insist that the change of course was made by the sloop shortly before the collision, rather than a half hour pre- viously, as those on board the sloop state it to bave been. �It thus becomes a question of time, merely, how long before the collision the sloop changed from port to starboard; her crew insisting that 25 minutes had elapsed, while the others place it at only four or five. Probably neither party is exactly aocurate ; but the mate, as I think, by his statement bas much reduced the time which elapsed, and I therefore hold that when the sloop went about on the starboard tack the vessels were so far apart that, with proper diligence and attention by those in charge of the schooner, and a compliance by them with the rules of navigation as prescribed by congress, this collision would not bave taken place. The schooner was in fault, and is to be held ohargeable for the disaster. The ques- tion still remains as to the extent of the damages sustained by the sloop. Upon this there is a much greater diversity of testimony than is found as to the cause of the collision. The court, therefore, must adopt the rule laid down in the case of the Great Republic, 23 Wall. 20, "that in cases of collision, where there is a great conflict of testimony, the court must be governed chiefly by undeniable and leading fa.cts, if sueh exist in the case." In the present case the claimants insiat that but little damage beyond tearing her mainsail was done to the sloop; that before the vessels came in contact ����