The Hardy

(after stating the facts as above).

[1,2] There is no dispute upon the law of the case. A vessel which undertakes a towing service is not an insurer of the safety of the tow. It meets the full measure of its obligation if it is reasonably adequate to the towing service, and is in charge of men who possess and exercise the skill and care ordinarily exercised by those having experience in like service; and where the master is shown to have been experienced and competent, much must be left to his judgment and discretion, and the burden rests on the owner of the tow to prove that loss or injury thereto resulted from negligence on the part of the tug. The Syracuse, 12 Wall. 167 , 20 L. Ed. 382 ; The Cayuga, 16 Wall. 177 , 21 L. Ed. 354 ; The Margaret, 94 U. S. 495 , 24 L. Ed. 146 ; The Adelia, 154 U. S. 593 , 14 Sup. Ct. 1171, 21 L. Ed. 672 .

[3] The court below found upon testimony, the most of which was taken in open court, that the steamer was not responsible for the parting of the hawser, and that it was for the captain of that vessel to determine whether the light on the barge could have been relighted without danger of losing his men in the attempt, that his decision in that…