The C. S. Holmes

The court below sustained exceptions to the first two counts of the amended libel, and its ruling in that regard is the ground of the present appeal.

*274 The first count is as follows:

The exceptions to the foregoing are to the effect that the allegations thereof are not sufficient to constitute a cause of action, nor to bring it within the jurisdiction of admiralty.

The second count is in these words:

To this the exceptions are as follows:

[1] Undoubtedly the libel is not well drawn, but courts of admiralty are always liberal in the construction of pleadings, especially as against seamen, whose lives at best are hard, and who are often spoken of as wards of the court. But as a matter of course no court can create a liability where none exists under the law; and so, in respect of the first of the two counts here presented for consideration, it is impossible to hold it sufficient. It rests simply upon the allegation to the effect that from where the libelant stood he could not see “how the wire was on the bow,” and that the captain could see from his position, and that, when the libelant had inquired of the captain concerning the matter, he was told that the wire was slack,…