Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/536

 524 FEDERAL REPORTER. �a strip of lead on a cask to stop the leak. This could not have been of much service, as the oil was frozen to the con- sistency of lard, and Captain Nye offered to pay Fagin for bis time, and also to make eome compensation to Captain Eavens. But these offers were peremptorily rejected by Ea- vens, who demanded one-half of ail the property saved by Captain Nye, or at least of the oil. �The claim of the libellant to a salvage compensation is thus found not to be based on the performance of any salvage service of appreciable value, but on the f act that the Timandra succeeded in reaching St. Lawrence bay in advance of the Mount WoUaston, and that her master took, or attempted to take, possession of the Cleone with a view, of securing the property at a later period in the season. This claim, I think, is wholly inadmissible. The Cleone was not derelict. Her master had neither abandoned t}ie spes recuperandi, nor re- nounced the animus reverten4i. On the contrary, his corre- spondence shows that it was nqt^m^rely his intention, but his fixed ^.nd.un^ilterable determination, to recover his property at the earliest practicable moment, and ; to the carrying ont of this determination ail other engagements andemployments were subordipated. He not only had not abandoned the spes recuperandi, but he felt the ntmost confidence in the success of the enterprise, persistently urging upcn the owners that th^cert'aipty of recovering the oil was far greater than that of procuring a similar amount of oil by the catch of an ordi- nary whaling voyage in the Arctio ocean, while the risk was far less. Nor was the design of returning to the vessel formed after arriving at San Francisco. At the time of quit- ting the vessel he adopted every means in his power to retain the constructive possession of her, and to notify ail comers that she was in charge of a person selected by him, and that he intended to return and recover his property at the opening of the next season. �Under these circumstances it is impossible to treat the ves- sel as derelict. As well might the goods or "trade," as they are called, which it appears to be not unusual for vessels to leave in charge of natives, at "stations" in the Arctic ocean. ��� �