rum nnsoom. 45
the Eugene was about 900 feet above and the Rescue was about 800
feet below the lower end of the wing-dam at the foot of Glass-house
ripple, the boats exchanged whistles; the Eugene giving the first sig-
nal denoting her choice of the right side, to which the Rescue assented.
As the Eugene was nearing the foot of Glass-house ripple, the Rescue,
without any abatement of speed, entered it, and continued up stream
under a full head of steam, with the wing-dam to her starboard.
When about 250 feet above the lower end of the wing-dam the boats
met and passed each other in dangerous proximity, the flat of the
Rescue barely missing one of the coal-boats of the Eugene, but not
actually colliding with it. At this moment, however, the Rescue
threw her stern out from the wing-dam and in towards the Eugene,
and the wheel of the Rescue was thus brought within perhaps 20 feet
of the coal-boat; at any rate so close to it that the swells (which were
very heavy,) caused by the revolutions of the wheel overfiowed the
side of the coal-boat and swamped it, so that it had to be cut loose.
lt sunk in a few minutes, and, with its cargo, was totally lost.
It cannot be pretended that this disaster was the result of inevi-
table accident. Undoubtedly fault there was somewhere. What the
nature of it was, and which party was culpable, or whether both boats '
were in fault, are the questions now to be determined. '
The space between the north shore and the wing-dam is about 400 V
- feet wide, but by reason of a small bar at the wing-dam, a short dis-
tance above its lower end, the navigable coal—boat channel there is
somewhat less than 400 feet in width, and, perhaps, does not greatly
exceed 300 feet. Now, on this occasion, the Eugene was about in the
middle of this channel,-slightly nearer the wing-dam than the north
shore,...and was floating down stream, backing, from time to time, to
keep straight in the channel. Some of the expert witnesses express
the opinion that the Eugene should have been nearer the north shore, ,
and quartering northwardly, or at least that that position was prefer-
able. But, according to the clear weight of the evidence, her position
in, and manner of running, the channel was free from fault. Besides,
it will not do to hold such craft too rigidly to any particular position
when running such a channel as Glass-house ripple. Under the most
favorable circumstances a descending coal-tow is, to a certain extent,
unmanageable. Floating with the stream, the tow is liable to be con-
trolled largely by the current and cross-currents. And the tow-boat
has not complete command of her movements like an unincumbered
steamer.
Rule 3 for the government of pilots prescribes:
" When two boats are about to enter a narrow channel at the same time,
the ascending boat shall be stopped below such channel until the descending
boat shall have passed through it; but should two boats unavoidably meet in
such channel, then it shall be the duty of the pilot of the ascending boat to
* * * stop the engines or move them so as only to give the boat steerage-
way, and the pilot of the descending boat shall cause his boat to be worked
slowly until he has passed the ascending boat."