On the night of March.16, 1920, shortly before midnight a collision occurred just off the Taku Bar tween the str. Cheng Lee, a Chinese vessel, and the str. Nancy Moller, a British vessel, and considerable damage was done to both vessels. Each vessel charges the other with negligence, and the remarkable part of the case is that each vessel claims to have been at another when the collision occurred. It is obvious that one side or the other must be in error. The str. Cheng: Lee is a vessel of 1,200 tons: and her officers are Japanese. She was in charge of the master, who, had been up to Tientsin often before and, therefore, was not employing a pilot. She had arrived at the bar about 11.50 a.m. on the morning of March 16, and as she was unable to cross the bar then, she proceeded to anchor and lighter her deck cargo. That operation, which necessitated the keeping up' of steam, was over about 7.30 p.m. and the lighters left the ship im tow. She was then lying head to wind and tide with 30 fathoms of cable out. She hoped to cross the bar by the midnight tide: high-water being at 1.30 a.m. and with that object in view her officers were on the bridge watching the signals from about 11 p.m. She was drawing 12'0" and vessels are not supposed to cross the bar unless the signals show a greater depth than their draught. At 11.20 she read 110" water on the bar, and we know that that night there never was more than 12'3" and that was at 1.30 am. Her story is that, while lying there at anchor waiting and watching with her anchor lights only showing, she saw well on her starboard' bow a vessel, which turned out to be the Nancy Moller, under way showing her' green and masthead lights: that! shortly after that the red light came into view as well, showing her as being under a port helm: that next the order to let go an-char was heard and the navigation lights were extinguished, but she
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