The Federal Reporter. Volume 4: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States. October-December, 1880. Page: 239
xiv, 928 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this legislative document.
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MERCHANTS STEAM-SHIP CO. V. SCHOONER B. 0. TBTON. 289
He heard the wheel move, and then the order "Steady;" and
some minutes later he heard the mate say, "Confound that
fellow, he has altered his course," and give the order "Hard
a-port." Hearing that, he says he jumped up and went into
the pilot-house, and saw the schooner very near and heading
for the steamer at an angle of about 45 degrees on her port
bow.
Then, if we look at the schooner, we find that there were
on the deck of the schooner the master, the lookout, and the
wheelsman, all of them (judging from the testimony) experi-
enced mariners, and all of them attending to their respective
duties. Their testimony supports, in every particular, the
allegations of the answer, and is, so far as I can see, con-
sistent with itself and to all appearance worthy of credit.
They asseverate that the steamer was never on their port
side, but, from the time she was first seen by them until just
prior to the collision, continued steadily about a point on the
schooner's starboard bow, showing all the' time both her
lights. It did, upon first impression, seem to me impossible
that to the schooner, which was moving six miles an hour, a
steamer, which was moving nine miles an hour, could continue
for 15 or 20 minutes to show both her lights a point over the
schooner's port bow; but, without better information, how-
ever, than I now have of such matters, I am not prepared to
find that the fact that the steamer was porting her helm and
all the time altering her course more or less to starboard,
might not have produced that result.
There are, however, some few facts developed by the testi-
mony of persons not on either of the colliding vessels, which,
after careful consideration, have brought me to a decision of
the questions I am required to pass upon.
The answer alleged, and the master of the schooner and
her crew more circumstantially stated, that there was from
the first sighting of the steamer another sailing vessel about
150 yards astern, off the schooner's starboard quarter; and
one theory of the claimants is that it was th6 light of this
vessel that those on the steamer were observing; that, by
reason of their negligent lookout, those on the steamer never__
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Boyle, Peyton. The Federal Reporter. Volume 4: Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit and District Courts of the United States. October-December, 1880., legislative document, 1881; Saint Paul, Minnesota. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc36333/m1/253/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.