The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-24
lit Against White City.

SS,OOO suit Against White CitSs
 Word was received here yesterday
 morning that Judge Waddell, of the United States district court for eastern Virginia, at Norfolk, has handed down 8 decision in the suit of the owners of i the New Haven schooner Hargraves against the Eagle Wing, by which the court holds the Eagle Wing solely re- ] sponsible for the sinking of the Har- | graves, and gives an award of $S5,000 to l the owners of the New Haven vessel, which was the estimated value of the l Hargraves and her cargo.
 The New Haven vessel was run into early on the morning of February 19, 1903, between Absecom light and Tucker
 Beach light, off the Jersey coast. At l the time of the collision the schooner Hargraves was bound from Norfolk, Va, to Providence, R. l., and having arrived about off Atlantic City on the
 Jersey coast, which is Absecom light
 house, at about 1:30 in the morning,
 the schooner then heading north-north- east with a good breeze, having the wind about a point free, it being the port watch and the mate in charge of
 the deck, the lookout reported a red light on the port bow bearing about 8 point. The mate gave orders to put the 1 wheel hard up. o rto port, knowing that
 the vessel which showed the red light had the right of way and it was his duty to keep off, for the vessel coming down was close -hauled on the starboard tack, and the Hargraves, whether she
 were close-hauled or free, was under obligation to give the other schooner ] the right of way. The Hargraves, in
 response to putting the. wheel to port, went off from the north-northeast by east. when this vessel which showed her red light all of sudden shut i'll her red l light, showed both her lights and then
 her green light and collided with the ! Hargraves, hitting her just about the beam at the mizzen chain-plates on the l port side and damaging her so badly l that the crew, although they tried to work her in shore, were unable to do so
 and were finally taken off, in response | to their distress signels, by the steamer Goldsboro.
 l The Eagle Wing contended that the l Hargraves was to blame in trying to
 cross her bows, and the crew of each vessel were insistent on their particu- l lar stories-for the Hargraves, that she l kept off, giving the schooner showing the red light the right of way and ex pecting to pass port to port. and that | the Eagle Wing, instead of holding her course, incorrectly changed it and ran them down; for the Eagle Wing, that the schooner going up the coast ran
 across their bows. s,.5 4 -.. i Tn ere was one additional witness (which was not counted upon, and that 1 was the moon. The witnesses from the 1 Eagle Wing said the moon at the time of the collision was shining on their starboard bow, and Captain Chatfield, l of the schooner Hargraves, who came on deck at about the time of the collis-
 ion, said the moon was shining on his starboard quarter. The moon the night of this collision, as figured out, rose at about 12:4O and it's declination was a lit- 1 tie more than II degrees south. There- fore, the point of raising was about east ] of south. 8# eaq. l At 1:30, the time of the collision, the
 moon, it was contended, must have 1 been bearing about southeast to south
 east by south, as 1t was due south at 5 o'clock. In order to get the moon on l the starboard quarter of the Hargraves and on the starboard bowrof the Eagle 1 Wing the Eagle Wing must have done ! just what the witnesses for the Har I graves said she did, and kept off on to I her, for it will be seen that if she had l held her course, as her witnesses said i she did, she would have been exposing I her port side red light to the moon all 1 the time, and if the Hargraves ran Eacross her bows, as the Eagle Wing I says, and she held her course. the moon, under these circumstances, couldn't
 have got on to her starboard bow.
 l The Hargraves was a large four masted schooner owned almost entirely l in New Haven, and was managed by
 former Lieutenant Governor James D. l Dewell, and in command of Captain c. l W. Chatfeld. Her larger owners were l Senator Charles Graham, Lyman H. I Law, Mrs. Lucinda Sutton and Alden H. Hill. At the time she was lost it I was about the time of the coal strike,
 and her cargo was consequently very 
 valuable. The cargo was insured in the
 Boston Marine Insurance company for
 about $10,0O0, and some of the schooner
 was insured in the Security Insurance company, of New Haven,
 ] Attorney James D. Dewell, jr., of this city, filed the libel for the owners of ! the Hargraves and cargo, and took all 1 the testimony north and drew the brief l in behalf of the schooner and cargo, be- 1 ing assisted at the argument of the case l in Norfolk by Robert M. Hughes, pro-
 lessor of admiralty in Washington and l Lee university.
 l The schooner Eagle Wing is owned l in Taunton, Mass, and is managed by
 J. F. Montgomery, of that place. The case was tried in behalf of the Eagle Wing by Eugene P. Carver, of Boston,
 Mass. ...%ss s.....-.
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