Appendix to the Memorial. 97 



the statement of Capt. MacKenzie that it was safe to 

 do so, and his subsequent declaration that he could not 

 on his oath state on which side of the line he was 

 when he threw his seine, indicates the same uncertainty as to his 

 position. But the expert testimony to which I have referred, is 

 very much weakened by the evidence of Capt. MacKenzie of the 

 Vigilant, a man fully as capable, experienced and intelligent as 

 those persons called by the defense, and perhaps from the nature 

 of his recent employment, more likely to be familiar with the 

 movements of the tides and currents in the locality referred to, 

 than most of those expert witnesses. He says that while sailing 

 w-esterly after leaving the Frederick Gerring his own schooner 

 was carried by the currents or tides inside the three-mile limit. At 

 the time he observed the approach of the Aberdeen Capt. Mac- 

 Kenzie was asked. "Was there any wind at the time you passed 

 the Gerring? A. There was just enough for the Gerring to get 

 alongside her net. 



O. With her sails balanced and half a mile away, and the net 

 in the sea, would she be half a mile in the course of an hour? 

 A. Yes, with the swell and the current. 



Q. Further than that, I suppose? A. It may "be. 



Q. What is your judgment about that? A. That day, accord- 

 ing to the way I was carried in myself, she would. 



O. How far did you drift in that day? A. I can hardly say, 

 but I got inside the three miles." 



Capt. MacKenzie also states the very important fact, that 

 when he saw the Aberdeen approaching the Frederick Gerring, 

 he observed that the latter had got within the three-mile limit. 

 When in addition to all this evidence, we consider that of Capt. 

 Spain, the commander of the Canadian Fishery Fleet and his of- 

 ficers, I cannot help feeling that the allegation of the Crown, as to 

 the position of the Frederick Gerring when seized is strongly 

 supported. Capt. Spain visited the locality in his own ship and 

 with his chief officers, verified by actual measurements the state- 

 ment of Capt. Knowlton, unless we are to assume that the latter of- 

 ficer and his subordinates on board the Aberdeen were guilty of 

 the most gross and criminal negligence in noting the courses on 

 which their bearings and cross bearings were based, the point of 

 intersection fixed by Cant. Knowlton and verified by Capt. Spain, 



