Noah Haynes Swayne

“ She is bound to consult their safety as well as her own. She must see that what clears her of danger does not put them in peril. For many purposes they may be regarded as a part of herself. They have the benefit of her traction and she the burden of their inertia. The character of the fleet could not be mistaken. The attempt of the steamer, under such circumstances, to pass the other vessels, and in such close proximity to the Syracuse, at a speed of seventeen miles an hour, was gross and wanton recklessness. ”

“ The Johnson, Arnold, and Syracuse, with their tows, made a fleet of eighteen vessels of different kinds. Witherwax, another pilot on the steamer, says:
'We seen the river full of lights; it looked to be all light away across the river.'
He warned Teason several times that the steamer would approach the Syracuse. His warnings show that he was alarmed. They produced no effect. A tug with vessels in tow is in a very different condition from one unincumbered. She is not mistress of her motions. She cannot advance, recede, or turn either way at discretion. ”

“ It is an important fact in her favor. That she voluntarily and unnecessarily sheered, and put herself in the way of the steamer, as charged, is very improbable. The fact is proven by no one but Teason. It was several times denied expressly by Witherwax when his deposition was first taken. He was recalled the next day, and then stated that he saw the sheer and supposed it was to enable the Syracuse to pass the tow of the Johnson, and that she kept her course afterwards until she struck the steamer. ”