Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/137

Rh cabin. It is claimed on behalf of the schooner that when the jib-boom entered the window, and before any appreciable damage was done to either vessel, the ferry-boat stopped, the pilot came out on the upper deck and held a conversation with the master of the schooner, in which he threatened to go ahead, and tear him out or clear him out; that then he went into the pilot-house, started his engine and boat, and dragged the schooner round with her stern against the corner of the rack, driving her stern back and across against the Vesey-street pier, doing great additional damage to the schooner, and tearing out four windows in the cabin of the ferry-boat, with the joiner work between them, before he stopped the boat again. But I think the weight of the evidence is in favor of the Hackensack on this point, and that while the striking of the bow of the ferry-boat against the south rack checked her speed, and perhaps gave the appearance of her forward movement being stopped to the bystanders, as they saw her stern sag over towards the rack, yet that her way was not fully stopped till her port bow brought up against the center-pin, and that during this movement the damage was principally done; that it was not until then that the pilot came out of the pilot-house and held a conversation with the captain of the schooner. I think it highly improbable that the pilot should have left his post under the circumstances described, with the stern of his boat in the ebb-tide, and the bow in the slip beyond the center pin, with another ferry-boat in the northerly slip, and his own boat liable to drift in a way to injure the other boat, or to make it impossible for him to reach his own slip without backing out; and the weight of the testimony is against it. The Hackensack was undoubtedly moving forward very slowly at this time, but the effect of any movement was to swing the head of the schooner round closer to the corner of the rack, and to break away the joiner work between the cabin windows as it was broken, and to breab the jib-boom, bowsprit, and head-gear of the schooner. When the pilot came out he suggested hauling the schooner back. This was done. The vessels being clear of each other the ferry-boat went on up to her bridge.