H.M.S. "GLORIOUS."

(1932) 43 Ll L Rep 450

ADMIRALTY DIVISION.

Before Mr. Justice Bateson, sitting with Captain Owen Jones and Captain C. E. Homan, Elder Brethren of Trinity House.

Collision between steamship Florida and H.M. aircraft carrier Glorious in Mediterranean during thick fog - Florida bound from Buenos Aires to Genoa; Glorious engaged in aircraft exercises-Respective duties-Collision Regulations, Art. 16: "Every vessel shall, in a fog . . . go at moderate speed, having regard to the existing circumstances and conditions. A steam vessel hearing, apparently forward of her beam, the fog signal of a vessel the position of which is not ascertained, shall, so far as the circumstances of the case admit, stop her engines, and then navigate with caution until danger of collision is over"-Whether the fact that a number of aircraft were at risk in the air was a special circumstance within Art. 16, justifying a maintenance of speed-Held, that the words of exception in the rule referred to circumstances surrounding and affecting the navigation of the ship (the proximity or position or action of other ships) and did not refer to such outside influences as those in question; that the Florida was to blame for excessive speed, for failure to stop on hearing the whistle of the Glorious forward of her beam and for helm action in fog; and that the Glorious was also to blame for excessive speed and for failure to stop on hearing the whistle of the Florida forward of her beam-Apportionment: Florida, two-thirds; Glorious, one-third.