110 F. 462 | E.D.N.Y | 1901
On the 4th of January, 1900, at 2 p. m., the schooner Beatrice L,. Corkum, who§e length is about 80 feet on the water line, carrying coal, was on the port tack crossing the North river, with a moderate wind from the west southwest, and with a strong ebb tide, and clear weather. The steam tug Bayonne, with a car float on her port side, was coming up the river, about 600 yards from the New Jersey shore. When in a position hereinafter to be ascertained, the schooner went about with the intention of going on the starboard tack, and shortly her starboard side just aft her fore rigging came in collision with the starboard corner of the car float, whereby the schooner received the injuries which are the subject of the libel. When the schooner went about she was about 600 feet in front of the car float. The schooner had sufficient opportunity to continue her port tack, and her change of course was in disobedience of the rule, and primarily relieves the Bayonne from liability for the accident. Burt v. The Nevada (D. C.) 3 Fed. 928. Therefore the primary question is, why did the schooner change her course? Concerning this the captain of the schooner, who was at the wheel, gave the following evidence:
“Q. Who save the order for the schooner to go about? A. Myself and the pilot. I said to the pilot, ‘We had better go about,’ and he said, ‘Yes; we had better tack ship.’ Q. Why did you say that to the pilot? A. I don’t know. 1 hardly know myself why I said it I thought probably if we went inside of him we might go into the piers, or whatever you call them, and that maybe there wouldn’t be water enough for us. I didn’t know the depth of the water. I was unacquainted.”
The schooner had a pilot in charge, who testified that at the time the schooner backed the car float was 200 yards away, and about an equal distance from the shore; that, if the schooner had kept on her port tack, he would have cleared the bow of the car float and tacked inshore of it, without difficulty. “Q. Do you know who it was suggested that the vessel should go on the starboard tack before the collision? A. Yes; the captain of the tugboat. He blew an alarm whistle for us to go on starboard tack. That is why we went.” He further testified that but for the alarm whistle he expected to tack inshore of the car float, and that the captain of the vessel had not spoken to him about going about. Here is a direct collision between the captain and the pilot. The pilot has attempted an excuse for change of course, and that excuse tends to involve the 'tug. It is undoubted that an alarm whistle was blown, but the important question is whether it caused the schooner to change her course. There is no suggestion whatever in the libel that the schooner changed her course on account of such alarm whistle, nor is it charged as fault against the tug. Nor is there the slightest suggestion of it in the evidence of the captain, or in the direct evidence of the pilot, but it only appears upon the cross-examination of the latter. Under such circumstances, the court is not justified in concluding that the alarm whistle impelled the change of course, misled the navigators of the schooner, or disturbed their judgment in any manner whatever. But it is contended on the part of the schooner that after she went about the tug should have immediately stopped and reversed her engines, and should have star-