The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-15 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

LANCASTER, SATURDAY, AUGUST Ig.
PZACWAL U. GAMY.

Mr. PATTUON opened the pleadings. This we,s'i an ac-
tion for damages for an injury done to thePbtritiff's vessel,
the Robert, through the negligence of
defendant's ser-
vant, who commanded the ship
john Reid.
Mt. 8401'91101 stated case to the Jury. The ques,
tier! here was, wheel's the damage which had been done
to the Robert air se through the negligence of the, defend-
ant's servant"... The vessels in question had put into the
Pert of li7Ong Hope, in one of the Orkney Islands, the
Robert,
being ultimately bound to Douglas, in the Isle of
and the. John Reid to Liverpool. Several other
vessels were in the port at the same time, and they all
left it together. Before they could get, free from the stir-
rounding islands, and into the open sea, the accident oc-
curred. The wind being against therir, they were
obliged to make tacks, in order to get out. At about
half-past three o'clock the .Robert, as she approached an
island called Flota, was in the act of reefing her top-sails,
for the purpose of tacking. For the moment she lay like
a log upon the water. At that instant the John Reid,
having made her tack, was returning. with the wind
on her larboard, nr, as the seamen call it, on
her larboard tack. Now, With' respect -to Veneta
in this situation, it was a ride at sea, that in case of their
being in danger of running foul of each other, the ship on
the starboard tack should keep her wind, or, in other words,
go on in her course, and the. vessel on the larboard tack
should give way. The john Reid had not complied with
this rule, and in consequeece not 'doing so, she came
on the bow of the Robe t, stove in her planks, and did her
much injury, so moth, indeed, that she madtione foot water
a day. The Roereet was obliged to put back into Long
Hope Bay, and- there get some temporary repairs; after
which thei sailed out to Stromness, where she got sonic
btheetrAing repairs, suchltsito enable her to keep the sea.
&A finally went into Maryport, to which place she be ,
tonged,. and underwent a complete repair. In consequence
of this occurrence, she lost her voyage to the Isle of Man,
and for the lass of freight, as well as the expellees of
repairs, the present action was brought. The ownership
was admitted.
Adam Russell—l was the master of the ship Robert,
in .
1823 ; she was on a voyage from Memel to Douglas, in
the Isle of Man ; I put into Long Hope Bay, in the Ork-
neys, on the 4th of October; several other vessels were
there at the same time; the John Reid Was 'one of the
vessels: we came out on the 11th of October, about eight
in the morning; the John Reid was beating out. at the
saine time; about half-past three in the afternoon, my
vessel had both topsail yards down, with people on the
fore-topsail yard reefing; she was on the starboard tack ;
while she VMS in that state she would not obey the helm;
she was not about to tack, but when we had set both top-
sails, she would haie gone forward and tacked ; she had
vary little way in the ..water; she was drifting a little,
perhaps about half a mile an hour ; the John Reid tacked
about half a mile from us; she came running, down upon
us on the larboard tack; she had single-reefed topsails;
her sails were set and she was manageable ; she was going
at the rate of four or five knots an hour; she came down
on us, and struck us on the larboard bow, and stove in all
the bow, and had it not been for the timber with which
we were laden, she would have run right over us. If the:
, accident had not happened, I should have got to Douglas
in eight or ten days ; but I did not get there till the 4th
of March, 1824.
Re.:examined.—Tberevvas plenty of room between us
and the island of Mots.; my vessel was an old vessel, and
tender-sided; she was .50 years old.
SCARLETT.—Ay, she must be worn out, she is old
and tender-hem-04..4A laugh.)
Two other 'witnesses corroborated ibis evidence.
Mr. SCARLETT addressed the jury for the defendants.
He believed he should be able to prove that every thing
which the plaintiff's witnesses had described as necessary,
had, in fact been done. The truth of the case was this.
The witnesses for the plaintiff had proved, that the wind,
freshened when they were near !lota, and that the wind
had, in fact, freshened so much, that when the John Reid
made the tack, the wind rent their jib, and the *beet of
their fore-Staysail went, in consequence of which they
could not turn the head of their vessel with the same
facility as if that accident had not happened. The men
in the John Reid had done all that they could, and they
were disposed to say, that if the crew of the Robert had
titially have exerted themselves, the accident would not
hive happened.
Captain Feathers.—l was Captain of the John Reid at
the time ire qaestion ; I had a pilot on board; the Robert
and John Reid were' sailing in the same line, and when
we got, near the island of:I:iota we were obliged to tack;
when we had tacked, we saw the Robert coming up to
make the same tack ; the pilot saw her, and said to me,
" We can't go a-head of that vessel, we must go astern,
or else we shall run on her midships;" we shivered our
main-top-sail, lowered the peak of the try-sail, and put
our helm hard a-weather ; by doing this we should have
avoided the accident, but that in making the last tack,
our fore-stay-sail was rent by the wind, which had in-
creased 'very suddenly; when we got near the island of
Flota, in consequence of the sheet of our fore-stay-sail
being gone' and our jib being rent, our vessel did not
obey the helm as she ought to have done ; I think they
were reefing the top-sails on board the Robert; they had
the fore-topmast stay-sail, and kept the main-sail up so as
to keep her more to the wind ; they ought to have done
just the. reverse; most likely we might have avoided the
accident then; our crew was 1:3 in, number.
Captain Russell, and two of his crew, were recalled on
the part of the plaintiff. Captain Russell swore, that on
the day after the accident, When they were both in Long
Hope Bay, Captain Feathers did say he was coining to
speak the Robert,. The three witnesses swore, that, the'
fore-stay sail of the Robert was down, the peak of the
mainsail was also down;; it.was down, because, if it had,
been up, the vessel would have gone nearer the wind, and
have turned her head.

Mr. SCARLET?, in reply to additional evidence, said, the
last fact decided the case in his favour.

Mr. BROIJiillAiVi, in reply on the whole case,' observed,
that it was not so decisive as his learned friend seemed to
imagine; for, if the jury Would look at the maps, they
would see that the Robert ,could not have gone nearer the
wind without having been &Ca on the bold rocky shore
of Flots: • Being thus situated between the risk of suffer-
ing damage from the ,john Reid, and the certainty of ship-
wreck on the rocks of Plots, the men on board the Robert
with great deference to his learned friend's better seaman-
shipdiad.chosen the risk of damage to the certainty of
shipwreck. .
Mr. Baron iiiii,LOCK left the case to the jury, who re:.
turned a verdict for the plaintiff, and the paretetragreed to
refer the damages.

'Extract of a letter from I—Animater, dated Saturday
night Up to the latest hour trivuliti,thhetlir C' at sat
on Saturday, Edward Wakefield
upon hail, nor declared his intention
applied to
be let out of custody
to traverse either of the indictments found
for misdemeanour and conspiracy. Ilis brother `V.
m
Wake-
field, will certainly be brought to trial at theee Assizefo
the misdemeanour. Ile is not able to traverse it to the
next .Assizes, in consequence of his having been ap-
prehended on this charge more than twenty-one
days before the commencement of the present Session
of nyer and terminer. Edward Wakefield having been
in custody on a charge of felony, and not of finis.
demeanor, is entitled, if he chooses, to traverse. It is
that 'Airs, Frances Wakefield, late Miss Davies, will
make her voluntary appearance in Court, and give bail on
Monday, to prevent the issuing tit' any compulsory process
against her. The manner in which she is implicated in
the conspiracy is, by having furnished E. Wakefield, her
stepson, with the pecuniary means of accomplishing this
fraudulent abduction. W. Wakefield's trial cannot come
on before Thursday next at the soonest, in consequence of
Mr. Justice l'ark's determination to devote the three first
days of next week to tha trial of the rioters."