Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/511

 THB TOLOMEO. 40& �in it. In support of the presumption of bilging, they have Bhown the dangerous position in which the vesBel was plaoed^ the character of the bottom, and severe \yeather; and of abandonment, the fact that a consortship, which had been originally formed, had been broken after the breaking up of the wreck. The parties have testified to the appearance of the vessel before being scuttled, her buoyanoy and being lightly aground and standing upright, and her rapidly set- tling and careening as she filled. I do not think the pre- sumption of her having been bilged, notwithstanding the bad weather and dangerous bottom, sufficient to overcome the positive testimony of the opinion and belief of parties pres- ent, founded, as they appear to be, upon well-established facts. To any one conversant with such matters, it is not & difficult thing to determine, from the comparative buoyanoy of a vessel lightly aground, whether or not she is fuE of water. I am satisfied that in this case the vessel was not so until scuttled, and that she would, in all probability, have burned to a shell, and, being gradually lightened by the bnrning of her cargo and upper works, drifted off and sunk in deep water. �The Bcuttling of the ship doubtless saved from fire what- ever was subsequently saved from water, and the anchoring, although it did not prevent the breaking up of the wreck, did prevent it gbing adrift as a whole, and floating into deeper water, where it would undoubtedly have been totally lost. The course pursued by the libellants was the best that could be done, and that it did not prove successful was not their fault, Finding that beneficiai service had been rendered, have the libellants lost their rights by abandonment ? The prineiple of law has been well established that where benefits have been rendered to property by one set of salvors, nothing but a voluntary, absolute abandonment of the enterprise and property will lose a right to save or share with others whQ,do save finally; sUch an abandonment, cum anhno -non revertendi, as betokens an absence of all further interest in the property, and an indifference as to whether it be saved or not. This is, the rule where beneficiai service has been ren- ��� �