Henry Billings Brown

“ It is difficult to locate the exact position of a vessel in a fog, and still more difficult to determine her course and distance; and while a whistle continues to be heard so nearly ahead it is manifestly unsafe to assume that she is upon a course that will take her clear. The assumption might be justified if the signals were often repeated, and kept constantly growing fainter or broader off the bow ”

“ If two steamers are approaching each other in a fog, manifestly their maneuvers must be determined, not by the chance of their meeting at a point where their courses intersect, but upon the theory that their courses shall not actually intersect; in other words, that both shall stop before the point of intersection is reached. And if one of them is running at such a speed that no maneuver on the part of the other can prevent that one from passing the point of intersection, the latter only is responsible. ”

“ There is so much uncertainty in the rule itself, so many contingencies which may vary or extinguish its application, and so many difficulties in sustaining its legal correctness, that the court cannot believe it proper to entertain it. ”

“ In the English cases above cited, both vessels were proceeding at a rate of speed no greater than that of the Iberia, and both were held in fault for not stopping and reversing because, if that had been done promptly, no collision would have occurred; but, if it turn out that the approaching vessel was proceeding at such a rate of speed that a collision could not possibly have been avoided by the other stopping and reversing, it cannot be said to have been in fault, with respect to such approaching vessel, that she still continued to keep her engines in motion. ”

“ Precautions which might be indispensable in a fog so thick that vessels are invisible at a distance of 300 feet might become unnecessary, and even burdensome, if they can be seen at a distance of 1,000 feet. ”

“ There is nothing in the peculiar facts of the case to take it out of the general rule that in cases of total loss by collision damages are limited to the value of the vessel, with interest thereon, and the net freight pending at the time of the collision. The probable net profits of a charter may be considered in cases of delay occasioned by a partial loss, where the question is as to the value of the use of the vessel pending her repairs. ”

“ Every ship, whether a sailing ship or a steamship, shall in a fog, mist, or falling snow go at a moderate speed.'
'Art. 18. Every steamship, when approaching another ship so as to involve risk of collision, shall slacken her speed, or stop and reverse, if necessary.'
The former of these articles deals with the general speed of ships in a fog; the latter, with the special precautions to be observed after the proximity of another vessel has been ascertained by her signals. ”

“ Cas, 670, it was held that where two steamships, invisible to each other by reason of a dense fog, find themselves gradually drawing nearer until they are within a few ship's lengths, each of them ought at once to stop and reverse, unless the fog signals of the other vessel have unequivocally indicated that she is steered so as to pass clear without involving risk of collision, or unless other circumstances exist which make it dangerous to stop and reverse. ”

“ Div. 71, it was said to be the first duty of those who have charge of a steamship in motion during a dense fog, on first hearing the whistle of a steamship in such close proximity to them that a risk of collision is involved, to bring their vessel immediately to a standstill, and not to execute any maneuver with her helm until they have definitely ascertained the position and course of the other ship. ”