Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/437

 e22 FEDERAL REFOBTKB. �•weather to aid those -who miglit be in distress, wliile otiier vesseis were seeking shelter, it is due that almost instant relief was provided for the Plymouth Eock and her terror-stricken passengers. �It has often been held that the interest of commerce and human- ity require that the maintenance of large and powerful steamers, to assist in saving property in peril at sea, ought to be encouraged by liberal compensation when their services are needed. In few cases are these services more needed or more timely than when excursion steamers, not adapted for services at sea, are sent loaded with pas- sengers eut upon the open ocean, and are there caught, through acci- dent, in those very circumstances of peril whioh they have neither the build nor the equipment (with the ordinary guaranties of safety which sea-going vesseis are required to possess) to meet. The service of the Germania is, therefore, a meritorious one, and deserves substantial reward, but not one ont of proportion to the actual emergencies of the situation ; and the fact that it was performed with celerity adds to, rather than diminishes, the merit of her claim. The Constance, 33 Law J. (N. S.) 191. �In cases like the present, however, where no signais for relief have been given, and where the urgency for immediate assistance is not shown to be certain, and evidently was not belle ved to be great by an experienced and competent master in command, no such large com- pensation ought to be made as shall operate to deter masters from promptly availing themselves of offered assistance, or lead them to prolong riska to life or property rather than incur large salvage awards. Ehrman v. Swiftsure, 4 Ped. Eep. 463. �In viewof all the circumstances, I think $2,000 will be a just award, — two-thirds to go to the owner of the Germania ; of the remain- der, |100 to be paid to the captain, and the rest apportioned among the captain and crew according to their wages. Let a decree be en- tered accordingly, with costs to the libellants. ��� �