Nathan Clifford

“ Rules of navigation, such as have been mentioned, are obligatory upon such vessels, when approaching each other, from the time the necessity for precaution begins, and they continue to be applicable as the vessels advance, so long as the means and opportunity to avoid the danger remain. They do not apply to a vessel required to keep her course after the approach is so near that the collision is inevitable, and are equally inapplicable to vessels of every description while they are yet so distant from each other that measures of precaution have not become necessary to avoid a collision. ”

“ No one could have better means of knowledge than the lookout enjoyed, as he was on the deck when the propeller was first discovered and continued there until the collision occurred, and he testifies in the most positive terms that he knows what the compass course of the schooner was, and that it was not changed before the order was given by the master, as before stated, and that he heard the order when it was given by the master to the wheelsman to make that change. ”

“ Until just prior to the collision the master was in the cabin, which was on deck, but he heard the report of the lookout to the mate that there was a light ahead, and heard the order of the mate to the man at the wheel to keep the vessel steady and not to let her fall off. He lighted the first torch for the mate, but when he heard the lookout say it is a steamer coming right towards the schooner, he, the master, jumped on deck and got on the cabin roof, where he could see the approaching lights about a half point on the weather bow and probably one-fourth of a mile distant. ”

“ The mate and wheelsman testify positively that the schooner did keep her course until the propeller was coming on her, and was only a short distance off, when her wheel was put hard aport under the captain's order, to ease the anticipated blow. The respondent offers no evidence of a positive character in opposition to this affirmative testimony. His evidence conveys opinions rather than facts, in opposition to the positive evidence on the part of the libellant. That kind of evidence cannot weigh against positive proof. ”

“ A steam vessel is required to take no precautions when there is no apparent danger. [6]
The schooner was in fault; she caused the collision. The proof given by the propeller as to the opening of the schooner's green light, and the suddenly exhibited red, shows that the wheelsman of the schooner must have changed her course before her master gave the order to put her wheel hard up. It may have been done without his knowledge. It may have been done without the knowledge of any one except the wheelsman. It is true the wheelsman asserts he did not do it, as is always the case in collision causes. ”

“ If a steamer makes the light of a sailing vessel at a sufficient distance to avoid coming in contact with the vessel, and a collision ensues, prin a facie the steamer is chargeable with fault, and the steamer must exculpate itself by clear and satisfactory evidence, or she will be helf liable. ”

“ Difference of opinion as to the true state of the facts doubtless led to the contrariety of decision in the lower courts, and it is the same difference of opinion between the parties which makes each claim with confidence the favorable decision of this court. ”

“ In such a case much depends upon time and distance, as all experience shows that measures of precaution, in order to be effectual, must be seasonable, and it is well-settled law that if they are not so and a collision ensues in consequence of the delay, it is no valid defence on the part of the delinquent vessel to aver that nothing could be done at the moment to prevent the disaster. ”

“ There was every opportunity for avoiding a collision necessary in such a case. When vesseles are seen that distance apart the absence of a lookout even is not considered a fault. [5]
Without fault down to the time the green light continued to be solely visible off the propeller's starboard bow, the propeller cannot be in fault at all, unless she afterwards committed it; and committed it when, having thus seen the green light opening on her starboard bow, she had a right to conclude that the vessels were going clear of each other. ”

“ Sailing vessels, when approaching a steamer, are required to keep their course, and steamers, under such circumstances, are required to keep out of the way. Vessels propelled by sails are required to keep their course on account of the correlative duty imposed upon the steamer to keep out of the way, in order that the steamer may know the position of the object to be avoided and may not be led into error in her endeavor to comply with the requirement. ”

“ Coyne, 4 Id. 512; The Carroll, 8 Id. 304; The Fairbanks, 9 Id. 420.↑ American Rule of the Road, 127, 228.↑ The Maria Martin, 12 Wallace, 31, 42; The Fannie, 11 Id. 238.↑ The Potomac, 8 Wallace, 590; The Scotia, 14 Id. 170, 181.↑ Mail Steamship Co. v. Rumball, 21 Howard, 384; 13 Stat. at Large, 60, 61↑ The Merrimac, 14 Wallace, 203.↑ As the Reporter read the record it was the mate, not the lookout, who testified to this last fact (see supra, 43) . ”