THE '.1!tTAN.
479
Judgment should, therefore, be against the Volunteer only, against which a decree .for the libelant may be taken, with costs; and as respects the Syracuse, the libel is dismissed, with costs.
THE TrrAN. SANBORN tI.
THE TrrAK.
(Circu(t Court of Am>6atB, Second Circuit. .January 18. 1899.) OoLtJSION-Tow AND STEAMER. The tug T., moving slowly. with two car-floats aloDI1;-s1de. came round the Battet"1. into the East river. near the New York shore. Thelteam-boatF. was coming down the Eastr,lver, lVith .the tide. at: a speed of. 12 knots. The boats being about end on. , the T. paned her wh8el, and was about to signal to pasl port to port, in accordance , with the eighteenth rule of navigation. when the F. signaled lier to pass to starherowo course to port. The T. immediately assented. put her hard a-starhoard, aod stopped; but .owiojt to her previous action. and the effeet of the tide on bel' portbow\ she continued to swing to starboard. The F. proeeede4.()n .her course to port untU within 200. or 800 feet, when. she repea.ted the lignal; and altered her course still more to port, but could not do so sufticiently, and eollided ,with tbe starboard tow of theT. HeM. that in departinQ' from the ltatUtory rule the F. took the responsibility of .passing ufely to starboard, and, as the T. did aU she could to comply with the sigoals. she was not in fa.ult. 44 Fed. Rep. 510, a1!irmed. .
Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. In Admiralty. Libel by Albert W. Sanborn against the steam-tug Titan and Car-Float No.6, Starin's City, River & Harbor Transportation Company, claimant. Libel dismissed. 44 Fed. Rep. 610. Libelapt appeals. Affirmed. Sidney Ohubb, for appellant. Wm· .W. Goodrich, for appellee. Before WALLACE and LACOMBE, Circuit Judges. WALLACE, Circuit Judge. This is an appeal from a decree dismissing the libel. The libelant seeks to recover for the injuries received by the steam-boat Frances in a collision with a car-float then in tow of the steam-tug Titan, which took place August 11, 1889, in the daytime, in the East river. off pier 3 a distance of 300 or 400 feet. The baving two car-floats in tow,-one lashed on either side,-had rounded the Battery from the North river, and was proceeding to FortyF'ifth street, in the East river. She was proceeding slowly, at a distance of 200 and 300 feet from the piers, and was about opposite pier the Frances. The Frances was bound for pier 26, North river. She had been making for the New York side of the river,:andwas, when about opposite pier 9. or 10, a little further out tpe,pien than intending to .round the Battery at a distance.,of aQout two or three bundred feet away..$he was going at:8 speed, With the tide, of about 12 knots. Just the
480
FEDERAL '1\l!:POliTEB,
vol. 49.
Titan struck the ebb-tide of the East river, which was 'running strong. lrirounding the Battery from the North river into the East river, after a vessel has proceeded through the eddy between the tideso!' the, two rivers at that point, upon encountering the ebb-tide of the East river on her port bow, it swings her off to starboard, unless such a movement is counteracted by putting the vessel's wheel to starboard. When the vessels were three or four hundred yards apart the Titan had passed through the eddy, and was heading against the tide on a course about parallel with the ends of the piers; and the Frances had approached, in the mean time, somewhat nearer to the New York shore. At that time the ,vessels were approaching each, other end 0ll,' or nearly so, and the Titan put her wheel to port. She was about to signal the Frances when the Frances signaled the Titan with two whisher intention to pass the Titan and her tows starboard to '$mrboard, and shaped her course to port. The Titan promptly anFrances'signal with two whistles, and hO,rd a--starboarded herwbeel; and stopped.' She had swung somewhat to starboard under the'ipf1uence of her port wheel, and, owing to the forceo! the tide on the did not recover llnder her starboard wheel, but kept swinging to., port. The Frances proceeded on her course, to port until she was ,within two or three feet of the Titan, when: it was appa.rent that the sheer of the Titan was so serious that a collision was imminent, whereupon the Frances signaled again with two whistles, and altElredher course still more to port, but apparentlyeould not do so sufficiently within that distance, against the ebb-tide on her port bow, to avoid collision; and the car-float, which was on the starboard side ofthe Titari;catne in contact with the starboard side of the Frances just aft of the forward gangway. We think there was no fault on the part of the Titan. When her wheel was put to port the vessels were approaching each other end on, or nearly so; and, under the eighteenth rule of navigation, it was the duty of the vessels to pnsseach other port to port. The Frances, however, to pass starboard to starboard. At the time her proposition to do so was made, and' assented' to on the part of the Titan, the vessels were sufficiently far apart to permit of their passing starboard to starboard if each of them had governed her own movements properly. The Titan did all that she could to co-operate; but the Frances, not anticfpating the' sheer the Titan, did not at first alter her course sufficiently to port to tnake allowance for it, and, wheri she altered her course stillmore to port, it was too late. We think the Frances, in at· tempting to' depart from the statutory rule, took the risk of her ability to pass sa.fely on the starboard hand of the Titan. Of course; by assenting to the proposition of the Frances for a departure,'the Titan un. dertook, on her part, to do nothing unnecessarily to embarrass the neuver of the Frances. She fulfilled her obligation; and although, had it not been for her to starboard, there would not have been a col lisionishe was not in fault for the sheer,"becanse she did everythingtber p6werto counteraet: it. The decree is affirmed.' "
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