Judgment

S. K. DAS J.: This appeal on a certificate given by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay is from the decision of a Division Bench of the said High Court in appeal No. 34 of 1951, dated February 27 and 28, 1952 by which it reversed the decision of a single Judge of the said High Court in Admiralty Suit No. 1 of 1943 dated August 8, 1950.

2. The appellant, Asiatic Steam Navigation Company Ltd., is a Company incorporated in the United Kingdom with its registered office in London and has an office in Calcutta. The respondent is ex-Sub-Lieutenant Arabinda Chakravarti who at all material times was a commissioned officer in the then Royal Indian Navy with its headquarters at Bombay. The action which the appellant brought arose out of a collision in a swept channel, a little distance outside the Madras harbour, on December 13, 1940, at about 6-51 p.m. The two ships concerned in the collision were the cargo vessel, S. S. Nizam of 5,322 gross tons and H. M. S. Kalawati, a patrol strip of 1,185 tons. For the sake of brevity and convenience, these two vessels will be referred to in this judgment as the Nizam and Kalawati. At all material times, the appellant owned the Nizam and the