44 F. 779 | N.D. Ill. | 1890
Libelants, as owners of the schooner Lookout, bring this suit to recover damages sustained by their schooner from a collision
It also appears from the proof that, after the light of the Myrtle had been seen on hoard the Lookout, her captain allowed his wheelsman to go below to get lunch, while the lookout was sent aft to take the wheel, and, as the full watch consisted of only the captain and two men, this left the captain to perform the double duty of officer of the deck and lookout, which, with another vessel approaching, and in close proximity, was in itself an act of negligence, as it left his vessel practically without a, lookout. The Ottawa, 3 Wall. 268; The Hypodame, 6 Wall. 216. Had there been a vigilant and competent lookout on libelant’s vessel, charged with no other duty, it is probable that the captain would have been kept constantly advised of the situation of the Myrtle as the vessels neared each other, and the collision averted. While embarrassed by the double duty he had assumed, the captain of the Lookout committed the fatal error of going to port when he should have gone to starboard. The original libel is dismissed, and a decree must be entered on the cross-libel , finding the Lookout at fault, and decreeing damages in favor of cross-libelants.