Virginian

On the night of January 12, 1912, on the waters of Puget Sound, the Virginian, a large freight steamer, 492 feet long, 58 feet 3 inches beam, with a carrying capacity of 12,000 tons, came into collision with the Strathalbyn, a tramp steamer 387 feet long, 52 feet beam, with a carrying capacity of 7,200 tons. The facts as found by the court below are substantially as follows:

The Strathalbyn, f proceeding northward from Tacoma, discovered immediately ahead and coming southward on her course the lights of two vessels. One was the Virginian, and the other was the Flyer, a passenger vessel on her way from Seattle to Tacoma. The Flyer was making 14 knots an hour, the Virginian 11, and the Strathalbyn 6 or a little more. The Flyer overhauled the Virginian, signaled to her, and passed her about 200 yards to starboard. The Virginian answered the signal, and the Strathalbyn heard both signals. About five minutes later the Strathalbyn blew one whistle to the Flyer, which was answered by the latter, and those vessels passed port to port. The Virginian heard these passing whistles, but the officers who were navigating her testified that they saw no lights of the Strathalbyn, and saw only the…