Union Oil Company of California, a Corporation v. The Tugboat San Jacinto and the Barge Oliver J. Olson Iii, Their Engines, Boilers, Tackle, Apparel and Furniture, Star & Crescent Towboat Company, a Corporation, and Oliver J. Olson & Company, a Corporation, Cross-Plaintiffs-Appellants v. Union Oil Company of California, a Corporation, and the Tanker Ss Santa Maria, Cross-Defendants-Appellees

451 F.2d 1369 UNION OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, a corporation, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The TUGBOAT SAN JACINTO and the BARGE OLIVER J. OLSON III, their engines, boilers, tackle, apparel and furniture, et al., Defendants-Appellants. STAR & CRESCENT TOWBOAT COMPANY, a corporation, and Oliver J. Olson & Company, a corporation, Cross-Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNION OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA, a corporation, and the TANKER SS SANTA MARIA, Cross-Defendants-Appellees. No. 25775. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Dec. 2, 1971. Certiorari Granted Feb. 28, 1972. See 92 S.Ct. 1177 . Erskine B. Wood (argued), of Wood, Wood, Tatum, Mosser & Brooke, Portland, Or., for defendants-appellants. Kenneth E. Roberts (argued), Ben Lombard, Jr., of Souther, Spaulding, Kinsey, Williamson & Schwabe, Portland, Or., for plaintiff-appellee. Before CHAMBERS and WRIGHT, Circuit Judges, and McNICHOLS, District Judge. * EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge: 1 The appeal in this admiralty case requires us to consider the continuing vitality of the half-distance rule as the appropriate measure of the statutory command to go at moderate speed in fog. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 192 . 2 On Christmas Eve 1967…