COLLISION OF VESSELS (ante). If a collision happens without fault, and no blame can be charged to those in charge of either vessel, each party must bear its own loss. In case both parties are at fault, neither can have relief at common law; but maritime courts aggregate the damage to both vessels and their cargoes, and divide the amount equally between the two. In case of inscrutable fault, that is, by a fault of those in charge of one or both vessels, and yet under such circumstances that it is impossible to learn who is at fault, the rule of equal division is also adopted. Where the fault is on the part of one vessel and no fault on the other, the owners of the vessel at fault must bear their own loss, and are also liable for the damage to the other vessel. In some cases the personal liability of owners is limited to the value of the vessel and freight. Strict laws, rules, signals, etc., are adopted by all nations to prevent collision. (See NAVIGATION, LAws OF, ante.) But, no matter how exacting be the rules, cases will occur when their following would result in disaster. No vessel should unneces sarily incur the probability of collision by strict adherence to the rules. If it is clearly
in the power of one vessel to avoid collision by departing from the rules, she will be held bound to do so; but a vessel is not required to depart from the rule when she cannot do so without danger. A proper lookout must be kept; the absence of such a lookout is in itself evidence of negligence. In some cases certain lights must be kept. Losses of the injured vessel by collision are within the ordinary policy of insurance; but when the collision is the fault of the insured vessel, or of both vessels, the insurer is not ordinarily liable for injury done to the other vessel which may be decreed against the vessel insured; but recent policies provide that the insurer shall be liable in such case. Undue speed on the part of a steamer in a dark night, or in thick weather, or in crowded thoroughfares of commerce, will render the steamer liable for damages occasioned by collision; and it is no excuse to plead that the steamer was the mails. Where a pilot is lawfully in charge of a vessel, he only is responsible for damages; but it must be shown that the collision was due to his fault.