Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/644

 630 FEDERAL REPORTER. �FAOTS FOUND BY THE CUU^T. �(1) A collision occured in the Ohesapeake bay about 7:30 in the evening of the eightla of September, 1879, between tUe American scliooner A. li. Weeks, in charge of an American master, bound from Baltimore to Boston, and the British steamer Farnly, in charge of a licensed bay pilot, on her way, in a par- tially disabled condition, to Baltimore for repairs. The sun set that evening at about 6:20, and the moon was just approaehing its laat quarter. ilie night was clear. The wind was north-westerly, and blowing about a seven-knot breeze. �(2) From the place of collision Sharp's island light bore about S. E., and was from three to four miles distant. ' �(3) According to the saifing directions given on the officiai coast charts, vessels going up the bay take a N. by W. | W. course until they reach a point from which Sharp's island light bears E., four and one-quarter miles distant, thence N. J E. a little less than ten miles, and thence jST. by E. | E. Going down, of course, they take the opposite direction. The collision occurred, as near as can be ascertained, from two to three miles above the point for change of course from N. by "W. | W. to N. J E. �(4) The schooner was making about seven miles an hour, and was kble to take any course she chose. �(5) The steamer was going up against the wind, using only one boiler, as the other was disabled. She was making only about four miles an hour, but was under complete control. She had left Baltimore the morning before, bound for Antwerp, Belgium, with a cargo of 93,000 bushels of grain, but on her arrivai near the Wolf Trap light it waa discovered that her port boiler was in such a leaky condition as to make it unsafe to go to sea without repairs. At 6:30 in the morning of the 8th she put backto Baltimore, using only the starboard boiler. She had beeij all day gettimg from about three mile» above Wolf Trap to the place where the collision occurred. �(6) The schooner had on deek from 6 o'clock until the tirae of the collision her master, who had commanded her most of the time since she was built, in 1873, and who had been a master mariner for about 12 yeare ; her second mate, an able seaman, and an inexperienced boy. The master was in command, and the seaman standing at the bow as lookout and performing that duty. The boy took the wheel when the watch begau, but the second mate was steering when the collision occurred. At what precise time he relieved the boy is not satisfactorily shown. The boy was manifestly incompetent to perform such a service, and so known to be. When the second mate took the wheel the boy was sent to shovel over ballast. AU the regulation lights were properly set on the schooner and burning. �(7) The steamer had the pilot on the bridge, the mate on the skeleton bridge, a lookout at the bow standing on the forecastle, a quartermaster at the wheel, and a sufficient number of men on deck standing their watch. The bridge is from six to eight feet above the deck, and the skeleton bridge about the same distance above that. The steamer vras 280 feet long. �(8) The vessels were seen from each other a considerable time before thi^ collision, and when they were from one to two miles apart, at least. When flrst ��� �