This is a libel in admiralty in rem, filed on the 23d of July, 1883, in the district court of the United States for the southern district of New York, by the Providence Washington Insurance Company, of Providence, R. I., and the Security Insurance Company of New Haven, Conn., against the steam canal-boat Sydney and the canal-boat William Worden. The libel alleged that on May 17, 1883, the Sydney and the Worden, owned by the same persons and engaged in the business of common carriers to and from the cities of New York and Buffalo, by way of the Erie canal and the Hudson river, left Buffalo for New York, having on board, with other merchandise, 7,900 bushels of wheat, of the value of $9,211.75, consigned to Armour, Plankinton & Co., of New York, the owners thereof; that on May 29, 1883, the boats run aground on Esopus island, in the Hudson river, whereby the Worden was so damaged that she sunk, and the wheat which was on board of her became a total loss, through the carelessness of those in charge of the two boats; and that on the 17th of May, 1883, the libelants, by a policy of insurance, insured Armour, Plankinton & Co. on the said cargo of wheat against the usual marine risks and perils of the voyage from Buffalo to New York, and, under the policy, on the occurrence of the said loss, accepted from the insured an abandonment of the cargo as for a total loss, and paid to them $9,211.75, and thereby became subrogated to all the rights of Armour, Plankinton & Co., for such loss against the Sydney and the Worden. The libel prayed for process against the two boats; for a citation to all persons claiming any right, title, or in terest in the same; for the payment of the claim of the libelants, with interest and costs; for the condemnation and sale of the said vessels to pay the same; and for such other an further relief in the premises as in law and justice the libelants might be entitled to receive. On the 14th of August, 1883, one Charles E. Wager put in a claim to the two vessels as their owner. On the 15th of August, 1883, the district court made an order, on the consent of the proctors for the claimant, that the Sydney be sold by the marshal. The marshal sold the Sydney for $2,100, and he paid that sum to the clerk of the court, after deducting his costs and disbursements, amounting to $166.84. On the 28th of August, 1883, the proctors for the libelants and the claimant agreed that the value of the Worden be fixed at $1,000, in lien of an appraisement, and that a bond to the marshal be given in that amount, which was accordingly done. On the 7th of September, 1883, Wager put in an answer to the libel, setting up that at the times alleged in it he was the owner of the Sydney and the Worden, admitting that the wheat on board of the Worden was consigned to Armour, Plankinton & Co.; denying that the sinking of the Worden was caused through negligence; denying, also, that the liberants insured Armour, Plankinton & Co.; and averring that any payment made by the libelants for the loss of the wheat was paid for the benefit and to the credit of Wager; that he paid the premium for the insurance on the wheat to insure him against his liability as a common carrier, and with a distinct agreement with the shippers of the wheat and the libelants that, in case of any loss or damage to the wheat while in transitu, the payment of such loss or damage by the insurance companies should accrue to his benefit, and relieve him from his liability as a common carrier for such damage and loss; and that he paid such premium with the knowledge and consent of the libelants, and in accordance with the wellestablished custom existing at Buffalo, whereby common carriers insured themselves against losses under their liability as such for damage and loss to the cargoes shipped on board of their boats. The case was tried before Judge BROWN, in the district court, who dismissed the libel, with costs, giving an opinion which is reported in 23 Fed. Rep. 88. The libelants appealed to the circuit court, where the case was heard by Judge WALLACE, who made a decree reversing the decree of the district court, awarding to the libelants a recovery against both boats for $6,175.89, and $1,420.30 interest, and $656.28 costs in both courts, being an aggregate of $8,252.47, and decreeing that the two boats be condemned therefor.