In opening for the defence Me. Gregson aald that on the night question the Saucy was on its way from Shanghai to Foochow on a salvage Job. 'The weather was dark and' the rain constant and heavy. Ho remarked that course agreed upon would, if plotted out fon the chart, show that the ships would have "met end on. Saucy saw the junk fine on her starboard ow and did not eross in the meaning of the regulations.
'All the evidence of the plaintiffs regarding the tide was based upon calculations and he proposed call testimony that the tide was at the end of the ebb, not the ood, as the plaintiffs' alleged. The Tungsha Lightship being able owing with the tide, was pointing towards Woosung at the time the Saucy passed. This, he said, was important point, as it bore on peed, the fact that the sails came across before the collision, as he proposed to prove, and the {creased difficulty of steering with the tide behind.
After describing the movements of the Saucy, he referred to a point suggested by the plaintiffs that the accident took place in a "narrow channel." There had een no proof offered of this, and thus he had no Jaw to answer, If the court ruled that the channel was a narrow one, it would be a ruling that affect all ships coming under the jurisdiction of the court, as hitherto the channel had not been regarded "narrow" and the rules applying narrow channels had not been followed there.
Before calling his frst witness, Mr. Gregson commented upon. the fact that junks of the size of the King Yung Ching wore not required to carry lights according to the "Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea." There would have been no misunderstanding if the junk had been carrying the Proper lights, he said. Referring again to the channel, he said that to the junk's starboard there was about two and a half miles of good water, and on her port about one and " half, leaving about four miles to navigate in. He inferred that this could not be a "narrow channel.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.