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10 MARINE REV IHW. MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. roe Moe PROPRIETORS. . M. : HOMER J. CARR, "Associate Editor and Manager Chicago Office, Western Union Building, 110 LaSalle Street. Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne Building, Cleveland, O. SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per year in advance. Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. WHEN it was announced a few days ago that District Judge Swan of the United States court, Detroit, had handed down a - decision dividing damages in the Conemaugh-New York colli- sion case, an expression of surprise was heard from vessel own- ers and masters who were acquainted with the testimony as pre- sented to the court in Detroit last winter. It was generally known that the owners of the Conemaugh had made a very good case, while the owners of the New York did not call a single witness. In advance ofthe full text of opinion from the court, the decision was proclaimed a great victory for the owners of the New York, but now that the written decision has appeared it is not surprising that the attorneys for the New York did not present testimony. In reviewing the case the court seems un- able to find language severe enough in condemnation of the action of the master of the New York, but still reluctantly or- ders a division of damages, because the Conemaugh did not stop and back. 'This conclusion is recorded against equities in the case most strongly in favor of the Conemaugh and against warm words of praise for the actions of the master of that vessel throughout every movement leading up to the collision, and also for his testimony on the witness stand. 'The case will be appealed, and it is not the place here to criticise any part of the decision, but it does seem that even though Judge Swan may not be upheld by higher authority in the extreme position which he has taken in trying to enforce the great commandment of the 'law of navigation which calls a halt when risk of collision is in- evitable, his action should result in great benefit to the men who are entrusted with the care of lake vessel property. Hvery ves- sel master on the lakes should read and study with great care this decision, which appears in full on another page. JUST seventy-three lives were lost in five lake disasters this season, and forty-four of them must be charged to the strange accidents befalling the two large steel steamers. This is an awful record, demanding most careful consideration from all owners and builders of ships. Were it not for the terrible loss of life, it would be agreed on all hands that the sinking of half a dozen steel vessels would amount to only a trifle as against the benefits to be derived from improved construction. In all parts of the world these lake accidents have been and are now being discussed. Some of the English newspapers have printed most rediculous state- ments about the lost steamers and about lake navigation in general, the whole being accompanied by the usual boast of British superiority, notwithstanding the numerous statements from Lloyds about missing ships. Great Britain with her tramp steamers still countenances a very large amount of defective construction at home, and would do well to withhold criticism in the case of lake vessels, but this can not be taken as an excuse for either builders or owners here, and it will not beso taken. Progress already made toward strengthening steel steamers now in commission and adding materially to the weight of all new boats, is sufficient to prove that owners can no longer get lightly constructed boats of the class built within the past two years; they can no longer add at one stride 20 to 4o feet to the length of a steamer without increasing her proportions otherwise and adding strength to every portion of her construction. Builders can no longer entrust their business to such methods. Changes in some of the steel stamers launched recently will, it is claimed, come very high but they must be had, and that at once. a Important Decision in the Conemaugh-New York Case. Judge Swan of the United States district court, Detroit, has given outa written decision relative to the Conemaugh: New York collision, which occurred in the Detroit river on the even- ing of Oct. 21 of last year, and through which the Conemaugh was sunk. For various reasons itis the most interesting opinion as yet handed down by the new judge. Notwithstanding the division of damages, the court scored the New York in very strong terms, and in this regard the opinion is most important. In answer to the libel filed by the owners of the Conemaugh, the owners of the New York filed a cross libel, also claiming dam- ages for injuries received. The cases were heard as one, no proofs being offered by the New York. Circumstances attend- ing the collision were as follows: The Conemaugh was on her way down the lakes from Mil- waukee with flour. Between 7 and 8 o'clock on the evening above mentioned, the night being clear and the weather fine, she had reached the vicinity of the remains led coffer-dam used in raising the sunken steamer Kasota, on the American side near midchannel and about three-quarters of a mile above Smith's coal docks. At this point the Conemaugh received a signal of two blasts from the whistle of the steamer Burlington, which was bound down, having a tow of four vessels, and at that time was rounding to at Smith's coal dock for fuel. The Burlington and tow in their evolution formed a crescent, whose westerly point was the coal dock, while its easterly end was further up the river and near the Canadian shore. The Conemaugh answered the Burlington's signal with two blasts, her helm was- put hard-a-starboard, her speed immediately checked and she - swung across the stream a short distance below the Kasota piles. Finding that she was heading above the stern vessel of the tow, the Conemaugh's wheel was steadied and then ported to follow the tow, which in circling around occupied most of the naviga- ble channel, leaving a passage on the Canadian or tow's port side. About simultaneously with the steadying of the Conemaugh, her master saw below the tow and about a mile away, the bright red light of an ascending steamer, which proved to be the New York, then somewhat on the American side of midchannel, and promptly gave her a passing signal of two blasts. The New York made no answer. When the two steamers were about three-fourths of a mile apart, the Conmaugh repeated her signal, the New York then showing her masthead and both colored lights. No reply was made by the New York to the second. signal. The last barge in tow was a little forward of the star- board beam of the Conmaugh, 800 or goo feet below her, and the same distance from the Canadian shore, when the Conmaugh sounded a third signal of two blasts. The New York made no-- answer to the Conmaugh's third signal, nor did she reduce her speed. About this time, the Conemaugh, still running under check, steadied from the port helm and almost simultaneously lost the green light of the New York, whereupon she sounded an alarm of several short blasts of her whistle, and put her wheel hard-a-starboard. 'The New York,running at full speed, was then about midway between the third and fourth barges of the tow, while the Conemaugh had just crossed the wake of the stern barge,the Ferguson. The two steamers were then on converging courses, about a quarter of a mile apart. The Conemaugh kept on at full speed with her wheel hard-a-starboard, showing the New York her masthead and starboard lights only, while the New York came up the river, still at full speed, under a port wheel, displaying her masthead and port lights to the Conemaugh. Just before the collision, which naturally resulted from these coures, the wheel of the New York was starboarded, but too late to avert the collision, and stem on she struck the Conmaugh on the starboard bow, sinking her within ten minutes. 'The vessels came together on the extreme easterly side of the channel, -- : scarcely a length from where the Conemaugh sank and about the stern from and a little on the port quarter of the Ferguson, 1,000 feet barge of the Burlington's tow. The answer of the owner of the New York admitted that her watch heard neither the first nor second signals of the Cone- maugh. It further stated that 'when the New York had arrived at a point abreast of the last barge in tow of the Burlington, 4 signal of two whistles was heard, but being unable to see any vessel, and noticing only a white light close on the Canadian bank of the river, the signal of two blasts was not answered, as it seemed intended for some other vessel." It was also alleged that the speed of the New York in passing the tow was but four miles an hour. The proofs, however, established that she main- tained double that speed until the vessels came together. 'The faults of the New York are so many and flagrant,"