William Burnham Woods

“ Where the Circuit Court has passed on all the issues, we cannot listen to complaints that it has refused to find certain facts which it was asked to find, or has found certain other facts which the weight of the testimony did not warrant. ”

“ The court did not find that the light seen by the brig was a green light, and did find that the vessels were approaching each other end on, or nearly end on, so as to involve the risk of a collision. The situation as found by the court was, therefore, precisely the one provided for in the sixteenth rule, which it was the duty of the brig to obey by putting her helm to port. The rule to be deduced from the conclusion of law drawn by the court from the facts found is not a whit broader than the sixteenth rule itself, and is really only a repetition of that rule. ”

“ It would seem that the finding of the court in reference to the lookout did not leave any ground for the appellant to stand on. If the lookout was competent, and at his proper post, the presumption of law that he did his duty, is not, we think, overcome by the fact that he did not see the lights of the brig until just before the collision. The brig also, according to the findings, had a man forward, properly stationed as a lookout, and he did not see the lights of the schooner until the collision was imminent. ”