Garland Wayne Kelly and Allen Eugene Kelly, Sr. v. J. C. Smith and Chicot Land Company, Inc.

GODBOLD, Circuit Judge:

This case arises from a mini ship-to-shore gun battle in the Mississippi River. The vessel, no ship of the line, is a 15-foot outboard boat. The combatants are irregular forces, fleeing deer poachers afloat and outraged defenders of a private hunting preserve ashore. The armament, rather than coastal batteries and earronades on the gun deck, consists of hunting rifles. The forces encountered one amother as the result of actual, though unintended, aerial reconnaissance. The engagement commenced with solid shot — from a rifle — fired from shore across the bow of the boat…