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Article 1.

Article 2.

CHAPTER III.

CASES BEARING ON EACH OF THE PRECEDING REGULATIONS FOR
PREVENTING COLLISIONS AT SEA ARRANGED SERIATIM UNDER
EACH ARTICLE OR REGULATION TO WHICH THEY APPLY.

ARTICLE ONE.

Preliminary.

In the following rules every steam ship which is under sail and not under steam is to be considered a sailing ship; and every steam ship which is under steam, whether under sail or not, is to be considered a ship under steam.

ARTICLE TWO.

Rules concerning Lights.

The lights mentioned in the following Articles, numbered 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and no others, shall be carried in all weathers, from sunset to sunrise.

"The meaning of these regulations as to lights is that the lights shall be fairly visible, as described.”—The Sea Nymph of Chester, Article 5, page 34, post.

"Though it may sometimes happen in collision cases that the law will bring about hard conclusions, we must not flinch from any conclusion to which the law, as laid down by these regulations, directly leads us; and if the absence of the proper lights, as directed by the regulations, contributes to the collision, there is no doubt, in point of law, that the ship failing to carry the proper lights must be held liable.”—The Emperor v. The Zephyr, Article 4, page 24, post.

"The rule of law is, that every vessel is compellable to carry lights from sunset to sunrise, and that unless she does carry such lights, and a collision occur in consequence of the absence of the lights, whether she was morally justified or not in having no lights, she must bear the consequences."-The Pyrus v. The Smales, Article 5, page 40, post.

ARTICLE THREE.

Sea-going ships when under way shall carry:(a.) At the foremast-head a bright white light, so fixed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twenty points of the compass, so fixed as to throw the light ten points.

(b.) On the starboard side, a green light, so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten points of the compass, so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the starboard side, and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two miles.

(c.) On the port side, a red light so constructed as to show an uniform unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten points of the compass, so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the port side, and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two miles.

(d.) The said green and red side lights shall be fitted with inboard screens projecting at least three feet forward from the light, so as to prevent these lights from being seen across the bow.

"The Louisa v. The City of Paris."

The case of The Louisa v. The City of Paris, brought before the Admiralty Court of Ireland, and carried to the Court of Appeal, bears immediately upon this third Article. Judge Kelly, in summing up the case, said: "The circumstances under which this collision occurred were as follows:-The Louisa, a screw steam-tug, 30

Article 3.

Article 3. tons, and six hands, used by the petitioners in towing lighters for the purpose of their traffic, left the quay of Waterford at three o'clock on Friday morning, the 15th of January, 1864, for St. Mullins, on the Barrow, having in tow two lighters, lashed one on each side, that on the port bow laden with wheat, Indian corn, and new rope; the lighter on the starboard with 35 tons of coal. The tide in the Suir was at ebb, within one hour of low water, and a light drizzling rain was falling, both sides of the river, however, being distinctly visible. It being still five hours before sunrise, the tug, which, it is to be observed, had neither masts nor rigging, being constructed to pass under bridges, had her lights, which were burning and exhibited on board, placed on the roof of the cookhouse on her deck, the cookhouse being four feet high and five feet wide, and the lights being lashed to a bar stretched behind them, the green at its starboard end, the red at its port end, and the bright light in the centre-all being in one line. Thus equipped, the tug proceeded down the river at four miles an hour, keeping a vigilant look-out, especially for the steamer from Milford to Waterford, which was expected to arrive from sea about that time; and not without cause, as within one hour after, when abreast of Snowhill Point, in mid-channel, she saw the bright mast-head light of the City of Paris coming round Cheek Point, at a distance of one mile. The evidence of the master of the tug here is, that immediately upon seeing that light he gave orders to port, so as to keep out of the steamer's way; that the order was obeyed at once, and that in one minute and a-half after he ported he was in the mud at the south side of the river, which was there from 600 to 700 feet wide, and that he kept his course on that side for about 150 feet down; that he saw the steamer's red light in two or three seconds after he had first seen her bright light, when she was abreast of Drumdowney; that he was then about 100 feet from the mud on the south side, and the steamer nearly in the centre of the river, about 800 feet off him, when, in two minutes after, he suddenly lost the red light. Made aware by that circumstance that the steamer, instead of porting her helm, was standing across his course, he shouted and hailed her, to warn her, and ordered his own engines to be stopped; but, in one minute after, the steamer came athwart the bows of the tug and the lighter, her starboard paddlebox striking the bow of the lighter on the tug's port, and knocking away her stern and sinking her with her cargo to the

In one

bottom, damaging the tug considerably in her stern and bulwarks, Article 3. and causing the starboard lighter to break adrift, with her planking so shattered as to be kept afloat with great difficulty. The entire occurrence, from the first sighting of the mast-head light until the moment of the collision, occupied but six or seven minutes. Cunningham, who steered the tug, confirming this evidence, adds that the steamer was one mile off when he got the order to port, and half a mile off when, after he had brought the tug up on the south side, he saw the steamer's green light as she was facing up the river. She was then coming ahead, and was on the port bow of the tug. After turning into the river she kept a fair course until within 200 feet of the tug, when she starboarded. He heard the master of the tug cry out 'Stop her.' minute the vessels came into collision. The engineer of the tug states that the light when first seen showed on their port bow, and that when he lost the red light it was off the port bow, and all the crew of the tug confirm these statements. The petitioners, therefore, attribute the collision to the City of Paris, for not having ported her helm, and for not having reversed her engines. Now, the case of the City of Paris, which scarcely counterpleads, and by no means contradicts, these statements, may be fairly said to be comprised in the first allegation of the concluding article of their defensive plea-namely, that the lights which the steam tug did carry were insufficient, improper, and calculated to mislead, and did mislead those on board the said steamer.' The facts to which this allegation points, as stated in the 6th, 7th, and 8th articles of their plea, are, that the steamer, on rounding Cheek Point, a little to the southward of mid-channel, perceived a single bright light (the tug's light) a mile distant in the direction of Snowhill Point, well over to the north side of the river, which she took to be the light of a vessel at anchor, that being a usual place for a vessel to anchor in, and that, conceiving there was no room to pass at that side, she was kept over to the south shore. The evidence of the master of the steamer then is, he first saw the bright light right in the direction of Snowhill Point as he was coming gradually round Cheek Point under a starboard helm, and after steadying, saw it was right ahead on the north side of the river, and appeared quite close to it; he then starboarded; that altered the bearing of the light two points on his starboard bow, he being then rather on the south shore, and did not until that time perceive that it was moving, having until then taken it to be

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Article 3.

the light of a vessel at anchor, the place where he saw it being
used by vessels to anchor in. When he found it was moveable,
just commencing to draw across from the north to the south side
of the river, he passed the word to ease the steamer, the tug being
at that moment about 200 feet off, and about two and a half
points on his starboard bow. Then he ordered to hard a-star-
board and stop, when the tug was 50 or 60 feet off and six points
on his starboard bow. He then heard cries from the tug, and for
the first time discerned the glare of a faint red light on the tug,
appearing as if in a line with her bright light, and together with
it.
That red light bore then about seven points on his starboard
bow. He made out the tug when she was about 10 feet off; he
then had no time to reverse, the tug coming into them, striking
the fore starboard sponson and the port lighter the float. After
the collision the steamer went ahead 100 feet into the mud on the
south bank, under her starboard helm. There was not one
minute from the order to ease to the order to stop, and but half a
minute from the latter to the collision. He was five minutes on
his course towards the tug's bright light before he saw it move,
and nearly two minutes from the time he saw it move until the
collision. He was going his full speed, seven miles, when he
gave the order to ease. The tug was going four miles. The
first and second mates of the steamer confirm this evidence, nor
has it been weakened by cross-examination. The Court must
receive it, and, still more, observe upon the remarkable harmony
in the accounts from both sides of the many circumstances of
time and place and distance under which they first sighted each
other, and also of the minute changes of helm and lights, and of
the small fractions of that seven minutes which all have stated as
the measure of time from the vessels coming in view of each other
until they came into collision. This collision, under these cir-
cumstances, the defendants ascribe to the petitioners for their
violation of the 4th and 5th Articles of the regulations of the
Privy Council, and also to their not reversing, to their going to
the south side of the river, and to their not having kept a good
look-out. The two first objections were well argued, and over-
ruled at the hearing, and the last one is entirely unsupported by
any evidence. And as to the tug's not reversing and going to the
south side of the river, the consideration of both will be neces-
sarily involved in the main questions now remaining for delibera-
tion; and the first is, the defendant's allegation that the lights

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