The Havilah
The Havilah
Opinion of the Court
The assessment of damages, under such circumstances as in the present case, is attended with much difficulty and perplexity. Assuming that the brig was liable on account of her negligence, as found at the hearing, I think that substantial justice is done by the award of damages, and that I am not warranted in making any material change, except as respects $551.25, allowance for demurrage, which is doubtless an oversight. Payment of the full value of the vessel at the time that she was sunk is the legal equivalent of a now vessel purchased to supply the place of the old, and interest thereon represents the value of the use. Demurrage in addition, therefore, is not chargeable. The Venus, 17 Fed. Rep. 925; The Utopia, 16 Fed. Rep. 507. In other respects the report is confirmed. An urgent appeal is made for the rehearing of the cause on the merits, on the ground of newly-discovered evidence, derived from the raising of the vessel during the assessment of damages, by which it is claimed to he shown that the angle of collision, instead of being from three to four points, as found heretofore by the court, was eight points, as the libelants had contended; and because such a collision angle would require the reconstruction of the whole theory of the collision, and charge the schooner with fault, and perhaps wholly relieve the Havilah. Such evidence as the raising of the schooner affords is, no doubt, new, and, if it were certain that the evidence derived from an inspection of the vessel proved an angle of collision of eight points, I should not hesitate to admit the testimony, and to re-examine the evidence with reference to that
Reference
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