The Prudence

ADAMS, District Judge.

This action was brought by the libellants, the owners of the Schooner William D. Marvel, against the Steamtug Prudence, to recover the damages suffered by them from a collision, which occurred in Delaware Bay about 1.30 o’clock in the *940morning of the 14th of August, 1902, between the schooner and the barge Drifton in tow of the Prudence. The schooner was bound from Boston to Philadelphia, laden with empty barrels, and the Prudence, with three barges in tow tandem, laden with coal, was bound from Philadelphia to New York. The first barge was about 200 fathoms astern of the…