Opinion of the Court.

for the $28,694.95 as of the date of the decree, (which was proper, in view of the fact that the condition of the bond was to "abide and answer the decree," and so the $28,694.65 did not carry interest prior to the date of the decree,) the Manitoba was liable to pay to the Comet $36,476.74, on a proper computation based on a division of the damages, according to the principle of computation hereinafter stated, and the Manitoba had the proper limitation of liability in paying only $28,694.65, at the date of the decree. The discrepancy between that amount and the amount stated in the bond is not explained, but is not remarked upon by the parties. The obligors in such a bond are not liable for interest prior to the decree of the District Court, but are liable for interest from the date of such decree. The Ann Caroline, 2 Wall. 538; The Wanata, 95 U. S. 600.

The owners of the Manitoba, on the 13th of April, 1882, appealed to the Circuit Court from so much of the final decree of the District Court, of March 15, 1882, as adjudged the Manitoba to be in fault for the collision, and also from so much of that decree as awarded to Hanna and Chapin the sum of $28,694.95, "without any deduction or allowance therefrom to these appellants on account of injuries occasioned by said collision to the said steamer Manitoba," and also from so much of the interlocutory decree of the 29th of April, 1878, as decreed that the Manitoba was in fault for the collision, and that the damages occasioned thereby should be equally divided between the owners of the Comet and the owners of the Manitoba. The owners of the Manitoba perfected their appeal, by giving a stipulation for damages and costs, in the sum of $35,000, in the names of James II. Beatty, Henry Beatty, and John D. Beatty, with the Detroit Dry Dock Company as surety. The owners of the Comet did not appeal. The Circuit Court heard the case on pleadings and proofs, and filed its finding of facts,and conclusions of law, entitled in both causes, on the 26th of December, 1883, as follows:

"That the collision between the propeller Comet and the steamship Manitoba took place between the hours of eight

Opinion of the Court.

and nine o'clock on the night of the 26th of August, 1875, and at about six or seven miles distant from, and to the southward and eastward of, White Fish Point, on the south shore of Lake Superior; that at that time said propeller was bound down the lake, upon a voyage from Grand Island to Cleveland, Ohio, and, when she made the Manitoba's light, her general course was southward. The Manitoba was moving in nearly an opposite direction, on a voyage from Sarnia, Ontario, to Duluth, Minnesota. She first made the Comet's light when she was between White Fish Point and Point Iroquois, her general course then being northwest half north. The officers of each of the colliding vessels discovered, soon after the Comet had rounded White Fish Point, first the white and soon thereafter the green lights of each other, and they continued to approach each other on nearly parallel opposite courses, each showing to the other her white and green lights only. Both vessels had the usual complement of officers and men. When they were from one and a half to two miles apart the Manitoba had the Comet's green light about three-quarters of a point on her starboard bow. The Manitoba then starboarded her wheel half a point, and continued her course without change until just before the collision. In the meantime the Comet ported her wheel for the second time half a point, and the two vessels thus continued to approach each other, showing their green and white lights only, until they had come within from 400 to 500 feet of each other, the Comet being then from 200 to 300 feet on the starboard side of the Manitoba, and, if each had kept their respective courses, they would have passed without colliding; but at this juncture the Comet ported her wheel, displayed her red light, and suddenly sheered across the Manitoba's course. The Manitoba thereupon starboarded her wheel, and the collision ensued. At the time, the Manitoba was running about eleven and the Comet about nine miles an hour. The Manitoba struck the Comet on her port bow, which caused her to sink in about two minutes, whereby she and her cargo were irrecoverably lost and the Manitoba quite severely injured. Neither of said vessels sounded any signal of the

Opinion of the Court.

whistle, indicating the side it intended or desired to take, nor did either of them reverse its engine or slacken its speed until the collision was inevitable, but the Manitoba did, just before or about the time it collided with the Comet, reverse its engine. The fact that the two vessels were moving on nearly parallel, opposite, but slightly converging, lines was manifest and apparent to the officers of both, for some considerable time before the Comet ported and ran across the Manitoba's course, as herein before stated. Nevertheless, neither, as herein before stated, slackened speed, changed its course, or signalled its intentions. The relative courses of these vessels, and the bearing of their lights, and the manifest uncertainty as to the Comet's intentions, in connection with all the surrounding facts, called for the closest watch, and the highest degree of diligence, on the part of both, with reference to the movements of the other, and it behooved those in charge of them to be prompt in availing themselves of any resource to avoid, not only a collision, but the risk of such a catastrophe. If the requisite precautions had been observed by both or by either of said vessels, the collision, in the opinion of the court, would not have happened. Each vessel misapprehended the purposes of the other. The Comet was endeavoring to apply art. 18 of c. 5, title Commerce and Navigation,' of the Revised Statutes of the United States, while the Manitoba probably believed, until the Comet's sudden sheer across her bow, that the Comet intended to pass on her starboard side. It was this misapprehension on the part of said respective vessels, which might have been timely obviated by proper signals from either, that occasioned the collision."

The court then finds the value of the Comet, and of her cargo and pending freight, and the damage to the Manitoba, at the amounts reported by the commissioner; that the value of the Manitoba and her pending freight was duly appraised under the order of the District Court, and proceedings were had pursuant to §§ 4283 to 4286 of the Revised Statutes, and security was filed for such appraised value in the sum of $28,694.95; and that the owners of both vessels claimed and

Opinion of the Court.

are entitled to the benefit of those sections. The court then proceeds:

"And from these facts the court deduces the following conclusions of law: 1. That said vessels were not meeting end on or nearly end on, within the meaning of art. 18, of c. 5, of tit. XLVIII, 'Commerce and Navigation,' of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and that the Manitoba was not, in view of the circumstances of the case, in fault for the starboarding her wheel just prior to said collision. 2. That the immediate or proximate cause of the collision was the putting by the Comet of her wheel hard-a-port, as herein previously found, and endeavoring to cross on the port side of the Manitoba, and that she was in fault for so doing. 3. That the Manitoba was in fault in ignoring the fact that the Comet was approaching under a port wheel, and that the courses of the two vessels were convergent and involved risk of collision, and in failing to take proper precaution in time to prevent the collision which afterwards occurred. 4. That she was further in fault in not indicating her course by her whistle, and for not slowing up, and in failing to reverse her engine until it was too late to accomplish anything thereby. 5. That both vessels were in fault in failing to take necessary and proper precautions against collision, which the circumstances manifestly required, and that the damages occasioned by said collision ought to be equally apportioned between said two vessels." The court further finds, that the libellants are entitled to recover from the owners of the Manitoba, and their sureties on appeal, by reason of the limited liability proceedings, only the sum of $28,694.95, and interest thereon from March 7, 1882, the date of the decree of the District Court, together with the costs of the libellants on the appeal; that, to the extent of the $28,694.95, the libellants are entitled to enforce payment of their damages against the claimants of the Manitoba, and their surviving surety, on the stipulation filed in the District Court for the appraised value of the Manitoba; and that, by reason of the total loss of the Comet and her cargo, and the provisions as to limited liability, and the fact that one moiety of the damages suffered by the libellants far exceeds

Opinion of the Court.

the damages suffered by the owners of the Manitoba, and interest thereon, the owners of the Manitoba are not entitled to recover any sum whatever from the libellants.

On the 18th of March, 1884, the Circuit Court made a final decree, entitled in both causes, which fixes the damages at the amounts reported by the commissioner, and declares that both vessels were in fault for the collision; that the damages shall be equally divided; that the owners of both vessels claim and are entitled to the benefit of a limitation of liability; and that the sum of $28,694.95, at which the Manitoba and her pending freight were appraised in the limited liability proceedings and bonded, is less than one moiety of the damages occasioned by the collision; and then proceeds as follows:

"It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged, and decreed, that said libellants, Howard M. Hanna and George W. Chapin, do recover of and from said James II. Beatty, Henry Beatty, William Beatty, and John D. Beatty, claimants of said steamer Manitoba, and appellants herein, and of and from the Detroit Dry Dock Company, their surety on the bond or stipulation on appeal, filed in this court, the sum of $28,694.95, and the father sum of $3395.50, being the interest, at six per cent per annum, on the aforesaid sum of $28,694.95 from the 7th day of March, 1882, the date of the decree of the District Court, to the date of the decree of this court herein, in all, the sum of $32,090.45, together also with the costs of said libellants in this court, to be taxed, upon the appeal of said claimants of said steamer Manitoba from the decree of the District Court on said libel and cross-libel.

"And it further appearing to the court, that said Robert J. Hackett, one of the sureties on the bond or stipulation filed in the District Court for the appraised value of the steamer Manitoba and her freight, as aforesaid, has deceased, it is, therefore, ordered, adjudged, and decreed, that said libellants, Howard M. Hanna and George W. Chapin, do recover of and from the said James H. Beatty, Henry Beatty, William Beatty, and John D. Beatty, claimants of the steamer Manitoba, and Frederick B. Sibley, their surviving surety upon the bond for the appraised value of said steamer Manitoba and her freight