act in
the case, i. e., whether Captain Turner was negligent in not literally
following the Admiralty advices and, also, in not taking a course
different from that which he adopted.

[Sidenote: The Captain's judgment free.]

The fundamental principle in navigating a merchantman, whether in times
of peace or of war, is that the commanding officer must be left free to
exercise his own judgment. Safe navigation denies the proposition that
the judgment and sound discretion of the Captain of a vessel must be
confined in a mental straitjacket. Of course, when movements are under
military control, orders must be strictly obeyed, come what may. No such
situation, however, was presented either to the Cunard Steamship Co. or
Captain Turner. The vessel was not engaged in military service nor under
naval convoy. True, she was, as between the German and British
Governments, an enemy ship as to Germany, but she was unarmed and a
carrier of not merely noncombatants, but, among others, of many citizens
of the United States, then a neutral country, at peace with all the
world.

[Sidenote: Admiralty advices considered.]

In such circumstances the Captain could not shield himself automatically
against error behind a literal compliance with the general advices or
instructions of the Admiralty, nor can it be supposed that the
Admiralty, any more than the Cunard Steamship Co., expected him so to
do. What was required of him was that he should seriously consider and,
as far as practicable, follow the Admiralty advices and use his best
judgment as events and exigencies occurred; and if a situation arose
where he believed that a course should be pursued to meet emergencies
which required departure from some of the Admiralty advices as to
general rules of action, then it was his duty to take such course, if in
accordance with his carefully formed deliberate judgment. After a
disaster has occurred, it is not difficult for the expert to show how it
might have been avoided, and there is always opportunity for academic
discussion as to what ought or ought not to have been done; but the true
approach is to endeavor, for the moment, to possess the mind of him upon
whom rested the responsibility.

[Sidenote: Enemy obligations in care of merchant ships.]

Let us now see what that responsibility was and how it was dealt with.
The rules of naval warfare allowed the capture and, in some
circumstances, the destruction of an enemy merchant ship, but,