Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/187

 THE 8TEAM*BHIP ODEB. 173 �On the part of the steamer it is contended thatlhe batk h.ad no light which could by any posaibility have been diseovered by thos(\ on board of the steamer Booner than it was diseovered; that thebarli was diseovered at the earliest possible moment, and everything then possible to be done by those on the Oder to avoid the collision ■wa.3 promptly done : �" That no sound or signal was given by those on board the' bark, bm she was suffered to glide on in silence and darkness, a comparatively smHl,' and dark object, wholly invisible to a vessel approaching her from abaft, as said steamship was approaching." �Upon these pleadings it may be taken as true that the steamei was sailing at the speed of from 11 to 12 knots an hour; that hei course was west by north, half west, and that the wind was west by north. With such a wind the bark, bound as she was' to New York, was, of course, sailing on the wind, and so stands the proof, The course of the bark, therefore, as shown by the direction of the wind, stated in the answer, was from north to north by west. It is proved by several witnesses to have been north, half west. �The courses of the respective vessels are thus fixed beyond dispute, and they are the controlling facts decisive of the case; for if the speed of the steamer was from 11 to 12 knots, and that of the bark was from four to five knots, and if the steamer was sailing W. by N. ^ W., and the bark N. J W., the green light of the bark, which, according to the undisputed testimony, was so arranged as to show two points abaft the beam, must have been visible to the steamer a considerable period of time before it was diseovered by those in charge of the steamer, and in abondant time to enable the steamer to avoid the bark. There is no question here in regard to the exist- ence of a green light properly displayed from the starboard side of the bark and burning, for the light was seen by many persons on the deck of the steamer before the collision. Nor is there any question that the night was bright enough to render the bark's light visible in time to avoid collision, for the evidence from the steamer is that the night was such as to make the steamer's side lights visible three miles, and those of the bark two miles away. The only question is whether the steamer was, as the answer asserts, approaching the bark from aft in a course that rendered it impossible for her to see the green light of the bark sooner than she did. That she was not 80 sailing appears by the course of the steamer as she herself gives it, and the direction of the wind as she herself states it, taken in con- nection with the speed of the respective vessels and the undoubted ��� �