Sehlmeyer

This is an appeal from an interlocutory decree in personam in admiralty holding Elton H. Sherwood, the master navigating the tug “Governor Markham”, liable for causing a scow towed by the tug to collide with the fishing vessel “Zozel”, while the latter was moored on the north side of Pier 17 in the slip between Pier 17 and Pier 19 in San Francisco Harbor.

At the time of the collision the scow contained mud dredged from the slip — a service incidental to the slip’s maintenance and operation for vessels mooring and discharging at Piers 17 and 19. Both piers are the property of the state. The towage was intrastate, the mud being dumped in San Francisco Bay.

The slip between Piers 17 and 19 Is a narrow channel. The “Governor Markham”, attempting to tow the scow past the moored “Zozel”, so handled the scow that the single towing line parted and the scow collided with the “Zozel”, damaging her hull. There is nothing in the facts relieving the “Governor Markham” and her master from the presumption against the moving ship and in favor of the moored ship. The Oregon, 158 U.S. 186 , 15 S.Ct. 804 , 39 L.Ed. 943 ; The Marian, 9 Cir., 66 F.2d 354 . There is evidence that there was used a…