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MARINE LAW. SALVAGE, Supreme Court of Judicature, London—Court of Appeal. (Before the muster of the Rolls and Lords Justices Baggallay and Lindley, July 30th.) ‘Thies case raised an important question as to the mode in which salvage is to be com- puted. ‘I'he action was by the owner, mas- ter and crew ot the steamship Missouri, to recover salvage in respect of service rendered to the steamship City of Chester. . lt ap- peared that the Missouri, while on a voyage from Boston to Liverpool, sighted the City of Chester, which had broken her shaft, and was signalling for immediate assistance. The City of Chester was in the track of steamers, and, in fact, had signalled to several, who, however, took no notice, with the exception of one steamer, which had. towed her for twenty-four hours, but then left on the ground that her coals were running short. The Missouri proceeded to tow the City of Cheater, a matter of considerable difficulty, as there was a heavy sea on, and her bits were carried away, her crank shaft fractured and she was considerably strained. Ulti- mately she succeeded in towing the City of Chester, which had:111 passengers on board, into Halifax harbor. The total value of the Missouri was 189,047/, and that of the City of Chester 179,535/. ‘Ihe Miseouri returned to Liverpool, where she was docked tor re- pairs. ‘he question then arose how the amount of salvage was to‘be estimated. The plaintiffs tendered evidence of the cost of repairing the injuries to their ship, and of the demurrage during the delay for the re- pairs. Mr. Justice Butt ruled that the evi- dence was not material as to the amount of the award, but only as evidence of the risk run. His Lordship said that salvage remun- eration is the sort of price to pay for the ser- vices rendered, and that one of the elements in arriving at that is the risk run by the sal- vors and their property. The fact of dam- age, he said, was evidence of the risk, but a : person having a greater or less award made in consequence of a risk which he had taken upon himself was not entitled, if the risk had gone against him, to claim not only for the award, but damage for injuries and de murrage. He also remarked 6n the increas- ing indisposition to assist vessels in distress. In the result he awarded 4,500/ to the own- ers, 5U0/ to the master, and 1,500/ to the crew. It was now argued on appeal for the plain- tiffs, that a salving ship should be entitled, over and above the award, to the expenses incurred in rendering the services, as other- wise ships would not render assistance, it being almost a necessary consequence of towing that the ship should be strained. It was said that such asum should be awarded as would not leave the salvor a loser. For the defendants it was argued that salvage services are undertaken. for better or for worse, and that sometimes a greater and sometimes a less award is obtained, that though it might be that.the costs of injuries directly caused by the services should be included in the award, yet the in- juries in question were not of that character. The case was argued on February 28th, when judgment was reserved. ‘The case was mentioned to-day that counsel might explain how the demurrage at 128/ per day was calculated, and it appeared to have been taken generally at the rate of 6d per ton per day. Their Lordships proceeded to deliver judgment, varying the decree of Mr. Justice Butt. ‘Lhe Master of the Rolls said that the ques- tion was not whether a judge ought or ought not, in estimating salvage reward, to take in- to account the fact that in and by rendering the salvage service the property of the sal- vor has been injured, but whether in such a case as the present the judge, before making his decree, is bound to hear evidence of all the specific particulars of such injury and all the specific particulars of the loss to the salvors sustained thereby. The answer to the argument depended upon a preliminary question, whether in every case, or in the particular case suggested, the judge was bound to award a sum suffieient to indem- nify the salvor; for, if he was from other circumstances in the case he was rightly of opinion that he ought not, the | proposition that he must hear the evidence, | which, upon the hypothesis had become clearly immaterial, wasabsurd, Supposing not, and if} ; jury to their property, the result of using it in the salvage serviee, was equal to or great- er than the value of the property saved, the award obviously could not cover such loss, otherwise the supposed salvage would be a saving of nothing. Then the particulars of such loss were immaterial. Supposing that in the course of the hearing it became ap parent that the loss of the salvors was greater than half the value of the property saved, it was obvious that the award could not cover the loss of the salvora, because even in the case of derelict the admiralty court had hardly, even in any circumstances, and in no known case of non-derelict, ever awarded, as for salvage reward, more than half of the value of the property saved. In such a case again, therefore, the suggested evidence was obviously immaterial, even for the purpose of obliging the judge to consid- er whether he would grant an amount of reward suflicient to cover the lose, because by the hypothesis. circumstances had made it clear that he could not. Supposing the danger to the thing saved to have been small, though sufficient to raise a salvage claim, was it true to say thatin such a case, if by accident, without fault or negligence, the property of the salvor was greatly injured, the whole consequence of such action was, according to the large equity ot admiralty law, to fall upon him whose property was saved ? Was.the mere fact that the property saved was sufficient in value to allow the claim for injury to the salvor to be met con clusive to oblige the judge, without regard to the other circumstances of the case, to al- low the claim? .‘'o say that it was would be contrary to the whole principle of salvage reward and the whole long continued course of its administration. The danger of an in- jury to his property so large as to make it wrong, on the equities of the case, to place the whole consequence of such injury on the owner of the property saved was one of the risks, by no means. the only risk, which is run by all salvors. ‘The judge was bound to consider, not only She. circumstances of the loss having been incurred by the sa!vor, but, in conjunction with it, all the other circum- stances which enter into the problem of what in the particular case, is a reasonable and, as between the parties, an equitable amount of salvage reward. ‘There was no jurisdiction known, in which so many circumstances, in- cluding many beyond those of the particular case, were to be considered for the purpose of deciding the amount of salvage reward. It followed there was no jurisdiction known the administration of which was more with- in the discretion of the judge who has to ad- THE MARINE RECORD. minister it. The moment the judge was of opinion, not unjustifiably, that he could not give, as a part of the amount to be awarded, the specific loss incurred by the salvor, it became impossible to say that he was bound, at whatever expense to the suitors or the waste of his own time, to listen to evidence of the particulars of such loss. It followed that in no case should it be predicated that the judge was bound, from the mere fact that it was proffered to him, to admit such evidence. It might be that in some particnlar case it could be shown that, for want of knowledge to be obtained from such evidence, the judge had not justly deter- mined the amount of salvage which he had awarded. But in such a case the appeal would succeed, not on the ground of the re- jection of the evidence, but on the ground of the inadequacy of the amount awarded. The court of appeal could not come tothe conclusion thatthe evidence had been im- properly rejected until, from the other cir- cumstances of the case, it had concluded that the only reasonable exercise of discre- tion was to allow the amount of the salvor’s loss, or that the discretion could not, even on the appeal, be fairly exercised without the knowledge of that exact amount. In truth, a clear conclusion that the amount awarded was unreasonably small or too large, or that there are not means of deter- mining that, was tlie only ground on which an appeal, in the case of a salvage award, ean succeed. The contention, therefore, of the salvor in question that the judge was bound er debito justitiae, to reecive evidence | proffered to him, on the mere ground that it was proffered, failed. That the judge might, in the case in question, and in any | | ease, receive such evidence, was incontesta- | ble. Whether the judge had rightly acted to consider whether, in the case in question, the judge could not make a reasonably just award without hearing the proffered evi- dence. His Lordship was unable so to ad- judge. But, after consulting the learned judge, and considering the fact that large injury was sustained by the appellant=, his Lordship had, with the consent of the learned judge, undertaken to vary his decree. ‘The court would decree to the appellants 1,000/, and the cost of repairs rendered nece-sary by the straining and other injuries to the Missouri caused by the salvage services, and the real cost, if any, to the owners of any crew kept and paid by them for the services of the ship while she was under repair. Lords Justices Baggallay and Lindley de- livered judgments in which they criticised the authorities and arrived at the same con- clusion as the Master of the Rolls.—.Muari- time Register. THE FIRST STEAM CAPSTAN. In an article published in the ‘Times-Dem- ocrat of July 28th it was stated that the first steam capstan was invented by Captain ‘Thomas Moore in 1854. It should have said that this was the first independent capstan, for the first steamboat that navigated the Mississippi river used a steam capstan. ‘The followirg will explain its first use: On Ju- ly 18, 1814, the steamboat New Orleans ar- rived at Baton Rouge, departed the sume evening, and arrived at Mr. Clay’s landing, two miles xbove, on the opposite shore, ‘The night being dark and rainy, the captain con- sidered it most prudent to secure the boat for the night. Early in the morning prepa- rations were. made for departing, and the engine was put in motion, but the vessel would only swing around, and could net be forced forward by steam, the water had fall- en during the night sixteen or eighteen inches. The captain then concluded she had lodged upon a stump, and endeavored to push her off with a spar against the bank, but without effect. He immediately satistied himeelf that it was a stump, and found it by feeling with an oar about fifteen or twenty feet abaft the wheel on the larboard side. He then got an anchor out of the starboard quarter, and with the steam capstan hove her off, when she immediately sprung aleak and sunk alongside the bank. Explanation— ‘This steam capstan waa upon the main sha‘t of the’boat, that is the barrel of the capstan surrounded the shaft around which a line was taken, and when the engine was in mo- tion pulled with a tremendous force. This style of capstan was used ‘until the inde pendent steam capstan was invented.—New Orleans Times- Democrat. INSURANCE TROUBLES. There is a great deal of dissatisfaction among insurance men about the way ship- pere of grain distribute their business, and the indications are good for an open rupture, unless they change their tactics very soon. Early in the season acompany which had not been writing marine risks for so:ne time en- tered the field, and refused to coalesce or pool with any other organization. Ever since the opening of navigation they have been writ- ing cargoes for 2'4 cents less than the other companies in the field, but will take noth- ing that is not shipped in steam vessels. Their cut under pool rates gives them almost a monopoly of this class of business and it is the safest and best. ‘The other companies get nothing but the sail business, and some of them have almost come to the conclusion that they will let the shippers take some of this themselves. The general agent of a company which has been writing cai goes almost exclusively said yesterday: ‘‘I, for one, am almost ‘ready to quit writing car- goes for these men who will give us nothing but their worst risks because they can get an insignificant reduction on the better class of risks from some outside company. If matters come to pass so I can consistently advocate a general withdrawal from cargo business until shippers are forced to dis- tribute their business more fairly I will do so. I believe that I express the sentiments of most underwriters in this matter.” —_—_—_ ___ Tue Liverpool Journal of Commerce says that “Some gentlemen belonging to the northeast of England, who are interested in steam shipping are beginning to show signs of a belief that the price of vessels has reached the lowest pdint. A company is now being formed of Tyneside and other capitalists to buy up cheap vessels—steamers which may be thrown onthe market either by the builders or by the owners, and to sail them, The-promotors feel that good ships ean be had at very low prices now, and that vessels bought at these low prices will be sailed at less expense and_ will give better returns. The company will be called the Prince Steam Shipping Company, and its capital will be £259,000,” — The whereabout of Patrick Foley, who when last heard from, was first mate of the | steambarge Huron City is anxiously sought old man’s mind by communicating with him that the loss to the salvors, by reason of in- |upon it was a matter of appeal. It remained jat Corry, Erie county Pa, A SEA GARDEN, Far down in the green depths I see below The long sea-grasses waving to and fro With sleepy: motion, pliant to the tide That stealthily gtwals shore ard from the wide Deep sea beyond, Here silver-fishes gleam, And vanish quite, Or, stationary, seem Poised like a cloudlet in a liquid sky And clear medusae swim past silently, Like ocean orchids. while, with motions strange Crabs hither and thither shrough the sea-weeds ran A lithe brown eel winde im and out, scarce known le. From twisting wrack, and like a wave-worn stone The flat sole rests upon a patch of sand: And on the weedy rocks, by no winds fanned, But soothed by under currents, red and white The sea. flowers, the anemones, make bright These songless groves, which only hear the sighs Of tides at flow and ebb, or the sharp cries Of wind-lashed waves when breaking, when a storm Drives shoreward surging billows multiform, Or the loag moan reverberant from the sea When dreaming of wrath past or yet to be —-Hurpers’ Magazine for Septembe r. A SUNKEN ISLAND. The New York Telegram publishes a ro. mantic story of the Thousand Islands, which the correspondent of that paper states he obtained from a guide and oaraman whose services he had engaged. The oarsman said that his father told him that sixty years ago there was an island near Alexandria Bay that bas since disappeared, and that twenty feet of water flows over it now. The old man used to go hunting on the island. One fall the old man went to the island, as wag ' | being afraid, And just as Twas opposite by his father. Should anyone know whether | i Patrick is still living, he would relieve an | his custom, and found a dead man in the brush, covered with blood. He had been murdered. The old man buried the body . and said nothing. Four months later he at- tempted to go to the igland again, but it had i disappeared and has never been seen since, The corresponcent says that he was attract- ed to the vicinity of the alleged lost island during his stay at Alexandria Bay, by a spe- cies of fascination, and visited it frequently, One day an old woman paddled out in aca- noe to his boat from’ an island, and in con- versation she stated:that she had noticed his frequent visits tu that spot which was hal- lowed to Ler by an extraordinary and terri- ble memory. As he disclosed the story he had heard and expressed a deep interest in it, the old woman invited him to her-hut, and arriving, after many turns and twists about the islands, he landed, and she not only gave him a circumstantial history of a terrible crime, but subtantiated much of it by old letters in her possession and other ducumentary evidence. Her story amounted to this: In the sum- mer of 1820 she had been married in the vil- lage of Ogdensburg to a young soldier whom she had met but a year before, and who, as she learned later, had Geserted from the army. Immediately atter the marriage he had taken a bateau, stored it with provis- ions and ammunition and fled with his bride to the island on which she still lived. Here they remained secure and happy for two years, living by hunting and fishing. But at the end of that time he required more ammunition, and had left her, taking their bateau, and gone to the mainland for it and had not returned. ‘I'wo weeks after his de- parture a strange man had arrived at the island in a boat and announced that her hus- band was sick at Ogdensburg and desired her presence. Taking her year-old infant in her arma, she at once hastened to accompa- ny the stranger to join her sick husband. He was, she said,a tall, powerful man, with a heavy black beard, and was very kind and’ gentle with her, nothing occurring to arouse her suspicions until they reached the island which was now no longer in existence. ‘There was a huton the island, and her com- panion -expressed a wish to stop there and get some water froma spring which was near it. Asshe was thirsty she had stepped ashore with him and accompanied him to find the spring, when he seized her and attempted to drag her to the hut. She resisted when he told her that her ‘husband had been captured by soldiers, courtinar- tialed and shot. The young woman was arined with a pistol, and believing the story to he a lie, in self protection she drew it and shot him through the head, killing him in- stantly. ‘'hen she got into her boat with her baby, and made her way to Ogdensburg, only to find that the rufflan had told the truth, and that her husband had been actu- ally tried by drum-head court martial, sen- tenced to be shot and so executed. The shock of such accumulated horrors drove the young woman frantic. For weeks she was out of her mind, being kindly cared for by some charitable people who had known her, and who communicated with her relatives and brought them to her bed- side. But when, on regaining her reason, she learned that her baby had died, she would not listen to anyone, but insisted on return- ing to her island. Thither she went, accord- ingly, being fitted out by her friends for the journey, and there she had lived unmolested ever since. The man she had killed was a stranger in Ogdensburg, a lumberman, who had heard the story by chance. She had not divulged her secret, and no one had inquired for the man, whose body had been foun and buried as already described, It was 00 her journey home that while passing the ‘island where the tragedy had oceurred, she had been herself an eye-witness of the mar Velous catastrophe of its disappearance. “T kept away from it as far as possible Oy I saw it move. And then, stranger, a8 I live, I saw it go down—slowly, slowly--the Lak gradually disappearing, until they were ov of sight, and then it was gone forever.