Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/832

 820 FEDERAL EBPOBTEB. �are attached by tow-Iines, and employed to. a very large ex- tent in interstate commerce upon the lakes. Whether the owners of such barges would not be entitled to the benefit of the limited liability act, is an open question. Undoubtedly they are within the letter of the exception, but as they are a class of vessels which was unknown at the time the act was passed, it would seem they are not within its spirit. I see no reason in principle why they are not as much within the act as the propellers which fumish them their motive power. �It is possible, however, that the use of the word "barges," in the Eevised Statutea of 1873, may indicate an intention on the part of congress to extend the exemption to this class of vessels. �Third. "Lighters" — a well-known class of vessels, used in assisting to load and unload other vessels. �Fourth. "Vessels, of whatever description, used in rivers or inland navigation." Under this exemption it was held by Judge Drummond, in The War Eagle, 6 Biss. 264, that ves- sels used in navigating the waters of the upper Mississippi were not within the limited liahility act, though engaged in interstate commerce. �Now it seems to me clear, from the above exceptions, that congress did not intend the act should apply to vessels en- gaged in purely local trade, and a fortiori to a vessel not built for the purpose of trade, but of pleasure ; not run upon any regular route, not engaged in the business of carrying freight or passengers. I do not undertake to say that pleasure yachts, making long voyages upon the lakes or ocean, may not be within the act, but I think pleasure boats, whether propelled by steam or sail, engaged in purely local naviga- tion, running in and out of the same port, though sometimes carrying passengers for hire, f ail within the exception. I have not overlooked the case of The Daniel Bail, 10 Wall. 557, or The Ventura, just decided, but for reasons already given they have no application. In the case of The Ventura, a steam-ship navigating the Pacific Ocean between San Fran- cisco and the lower ports of California, carrying merohandise ����