Puratich

Appellant, owner of the fishing boat Lone Eagle, filed a libel against the United States, as owner of the destroyer Crosby, to recover damages for the loss of the Lone Eagle in a collision with the Crosby. The Crosby was undamaged. The court, concluding that the collision was the sole fault of the Lone Eagle, dismissed the libel. On the trial the fault of the fishing vessel was admitted, so that the only question here concerns the right of her owner to have the loss divided.

The Crosby is a vessel approximately 314 feet in length, with a 35-foot beam and a draft of 12 feet. The Lone Eagle was a wooden ship 59.9 feet long, with a beam of 17.1 feet, and a gross tonnage of 51.05 tons. She was proceeding northward from San Pedro to Gig Harbor, Washington, with a crew of seven men. Between 7 and 8 o’clock on the evening of April 3, 1940, she passed Point Arguello and thereafter pursued a compass course of 330°, or 346° true. 1 Prior to 9 o’clock of that evening the Crosby, which was on neutrality patrol in the vicinity and which had been pursuing a course due north, made a wide-turning circle and changed her course to due south, 180° true. She thereafter continued on that course until…