Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1879-07-16

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!, her bow swung toport. The etfec
r OF this, added to the current an
natural suction of a large propeller
was TO swing her stern To starboard
The violent blow upon the star
board quarter naturally crowde,
her stern to port and gave her bow
another sheer to the starboard. Ii
this position she ran down the lin,
Of the Ballentine and received tn,
impact of the Moore full upon bel
starboard bow. The nature o.
the injuries received leaves nc
doubt in my mind that the collision
was produced substantially in this
way, and principally by the sheer
ing of the Lathrop.
The somewhat more difficult
question of the fault of the Ballen-
tine remains to be considered. The
case was argued as if it de-
pended upon locality of the COLI
sion, the libelants striving to de-
monstrate that the down tow was
crowded 50 near the Canadian shore
that the East Saginaw was actually
obliged to port after passing the
Ballentine to prevent running up
on McDougall's Rock, which stood
within $50 feet of the water line. The
usual conflict of testimony exists
between the crews upon this point.
A decisive objection to this theory, |
however, is the fact that it involves
a deviation Of both tows TO the /
eastward of their natural course |
at this point, under circumstances
which would suggest to both the
necessity of keeping well to the
westward. The Ballentine and |
Moore, both vessels of the largest |
class, were coming up light, with their
hulls well out of the water, and
exposed to strong westerly wind
the East Saginaw was coming down
a strong current, with heavy tow
and would naturally use every eff
fort to keep off the Canadian shore
that under such circumstances both
vessels should have deviated 1000
feet to the eastward of their usual
course, should not be believed
the most convincing proof.
But ] think the Ballentine was in
fault in not giving the down tow
more room. The strength of the
wind and current was such as to
'equire very careful management. {
rs she took her course toward /,
he head of Crosse Isle the East /
saginaw was about three-quarters +
# a point upon her starboard bow. #
after exchanging signals she star 7
oarded but half point. The t,
act that she passed the East Sagi- p
aw at distance Of not over $50 |,
Get, and the Light Guard at a dis n
ance Of less than q hundred feet, II
hows either that it was upon a Sc
urve, or the rear vessels were out to
line to starboard. This fact p'
lust have been evident to the Bal o,
'ntine, and it was her duty to W
rovide against it. So, if the 10
athrop was steering as badly as OF
he master of the Ballentine as NJ NJ
,rts, that must also been evident, til
I'D it was his duty to give her .o
nple room. If he had starboard- m
another half point the collision 81 So
ould not have occurred, nothwith- pc
anding the fault of the Lathrop. su
he failure of passing lows to give pu
ch other sufficient room is proba- ro
y the occasion of more collisions Ion
the Detroit River than any 9TH int
single fault. 1t seems to be a wi
'son that tug masters find impos- tea
Die to learn. r ri,
Excepting the fact that the Bal VIC
ltine had a vessel in tow, the case me-
almost identical with that of the brc
arit Martin, II Wall, and the Ic.
ne result must follow as in that do
Sc. A decree will therefore be n ,ne
tered condemning the Ballcntine the
d Lathrop, apportioning the VI air'
images between them, and refer op,
g it to the clerk to assess and mi
port the same.