102 F. 650 | 2d Cir. | 1900
The case in this court differs from that submitted below, in that there are some propositions no longer in dispute. The libelant has not appealed, .and therefore it must be assumed that the bark was herself in fault; that, from “the uncertainty and contradictions in the testimony in the libelant’s behalf,” it appears that there was “obvious negligence” in her navigation. It will not be necessary to repeat the detailed statements of the district court as to her probable movements. She was taken aback, the wind being light and baffling, and, after a greater or less amount of “sagging” and “drifting back,” got back to her course again. ' It will be necessary only to inquire whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant the further finding that the steamer “kept a negligent lookout,” and therefore failed to- see the Swallow’s lights earlier, and thereby secure time sufficient to maneuver so as to avoid her. Here, again, we are helped by the concession that the lights were not seen as soon as it might be expected they would have been. The entry in the log of the Orione, written within 24 hours after the collision, contains this statement:
“The undersigned believes that the sailing vessel put up the side lights a few minutes before the collision, because, if he had the side lights, that could have been seen before, because the night was somewhat clear, so as to be able to distinguish the* side lights at a far greater distance, inasmuch as hardly two minutes passed from the time of seeing the side lights to the collision.”
' The second mate, Zicavo, was in charge of the navigation of the steamer. He testified that he saw the Swallow’s red light almost .at the time the lookout signaled it. He estimates the distance at 800 to 1,000 meters, and the time from sighting to collision at two to three minutes. The steamer was making about 14 knots. Renzetti, the lookout, who sighted and signaled the light, makes the time to collision three to four minutes; Podesta, on the lookout bridge, “only a
“In such case the hack’s red light must have been visible from five to ten minutes before collision, and the bark’s change of condition, though constant*652 and deceptive, must have been comparatively very slow, and could not have been sufficient to prevent the steamer from avoiding her, had timely notice been taken by the bark, and had the steamer hard a-ported even a minute before collision.”
When we take into consideration the course and character of the wind, the slow speed of the bark even when on her course (3⅞ to 4 ' knots only), the long arc through which she had to swing her bows in order to get from a position where the steamer bore 2 points abaft her port beam to one where she showed her green light to the steamer, as she did just before collision, and the fact that, during the long effort to get back through the teeth of the wind to her starboard tack, she was showing her red light to the steamer, we fully concur in the conclusion of the district judge, and cannot understand how the steamer could possibly come in- contact with the bark ihus maneuvering, if, seeing her red light nearly half a mile away, she at once hard a-ported, and kept on under a hard a-port wheel at a speed of 14 knots an hour. The only other possible explanation of the sudden appearance of the red light is the failure to keep a vigilant lookout, and we therefore concur with the district judge in the finding that the steamer’s negligence in that regard contributed to bring about the collision. The decree is affirmed, with interest and costs.