1. Salvage — Contract eok Towage — Duress—Amount or Compensation.

On it libel on contract for salvage services rendered by the steam schooner Tillamook to the steamer Sirius, the evidence showed that the Sirius, having lost her propeller and part of her shaft, was placed under such sail as she had, and, after drifting for three days, was anchored in a bay of an island off the coast of Lower California; that she was in a dangerous position, as she could not get an offing with her small sail power, find in case of a southerly gale might go ashore; that the master of the Tillamook, which came to her assistance, proposed either to tow her to San Diego for $20,000, or to furnish stores, and gratuitously take ¡in officer to San Diego to procure assistance; that the original purpose of the master of the Sirius was to send to San Diego for assistance; that lie was positive Ms position was safe, and that lie could get to sea before a southerly storm became dangerous; that lie decided not to send an officer to San Diego, as he wished to avoid lengthening Ms voyage; that he claimed that $20,000 for the towage services was unreasonable and exorbitant, and proposed either a reduction in the charge or arbitration, or to leave the question to the owners to settle; and that his propositions were rejected by the master of the Tillamook. The master and purser of the Sirius testified that the master of the Tillamook demanded “$20,000 or nothing, and I want you to talk quick, or I will leave you.” The master of the Tillamook testified in an unsatisfactory and contradictory maimer that in the conversa lion he expressed a doubt of the ability of Ms vessel to tow the Sirius, and offered to leave the question of compensation to the court. The negotiations occupied an hour and a lmll'. The contract for the towage service was drawn by the purser of the Sirius, and subsequently signed by her master. The Tillamook was valued fit $32,000, and the salvage property at $143,530. Held, that the service rendered was a salvage service, and not it towage service; that, under the circumstances, (he bargain was inequitable, the price agreed on exorbitant, and that $8,000, with interest from the date of the service, was fair compensation. The Wellington, 52 Fed. Rep. 005, distinguished. The Sirius, 53 Fed. Rep. 011, reversed.

2. Same — ArrOKTroNMENT.

The award should he distributed as follows: $5,300 to the charterers of the Tillamook, $1,000 to her master, and $1,700 to the other officers and crew of the vessel, according to their relations to the service performed, tlieiv extra work, and their regular wages. The Sirius, 53 Fed. Rep. OH, modified.