by John Marshall Harlan

“ United States, 20 L. ed. 505, is not to the contrary, inasmuch as that was a case of joint capture by the army and the navy, and Congress had made no grant in such circumstances. Here the victory was that of the navy alone, and the pecuniary fruits under this statute should not be diminished because the opposing force was partly on shore or under water.
Undoubtedly it is our duty to give effect to the will of Congress, but in ascertaining its will the object Congress manifestly sought to attain must be recognized, and should be controlling, unless positively defeated by the language used. ”

“ The chief distinction, as a military achievement, of the victory of Manila bay, is that the American fleet, unaided by an army, attacked a force composed of ships supported by powerful shore defenses, together with submarine mines and torpedoes, and, in defiance of these open and hidden dangers in addition to the power of the enemy's fleet, sailed in, and not only destroyed or captured all the opposing vessels, but captured or silenced the shore batteries. ”

“ But the decision there did not go beyond the point that the act of June 30, 1864 (13 Stat. at L. 306, 311, chap. 174) , did not allow bounty where the vessels of the enemy during the late Rebellion, were destroyed by the combined action of the land and naval forces of the United States. The court said: 'Prize money, or bounty in lieu of it, is not allowed by the laws of Congress where vessels of the enemy are captured or destroyed by the navy with the co-operation of the army. To win either, the navy must achieve its success without the direct aid of the army, by maritime force only. ”

“ Contemporaneously with these things was the seizure of the Siren by the Gladiolus, and the approach and arrival of the rest of the fleet. The two forces were acting under the orders of a common government, for a common object, and for none other. They were united in their labors and their perils, and in their triumph they were not divided. ”

“ Either force, after the abandonment of their defenses by the rebels, could have seized all that was taken by both. The meritorious service of the Gladiolus was as a salvor, and not as a captor. Precedence in the time of the arrival of the respective forces is an element of no consequence. ”

“ This diversion must be considered, in every just sense of the terms, as giving aid to her. Again, the power of the shot of the Weehawken had evidently surprised the officers of the Atlanta, who found their vessel speedily disabled and their crew demoralized. The advance upon her, at full sped , of a second monitor, of equal force, ready to inflict similar injuries, may have hastened the surrender. It can hardly be supposed that the approach of the second monitor did not enter into the consideration of the captain and officers of the Atlanta. ”