It is provided by section 688 of the Revised Statutes that this court 'shall have power to issue writs of prohibition to the district courts when proceeding as courts of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.' This provision is taken from section 13 of the act of September 24, 1879. 1 St. 80. The question to be determined is, therefore, whether the district court has jurisdiction to entertain the proceeding in this case for the limitation of liability. Sections 4283, 4284, and 4285 of the Revised Statutes provide as follows:
'Sec. 4283. The liability of the owner of any vessel for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction, by any person, of any property, goods, or merchandise shipped or put on board of such vessel, or for any loss, damage, or injury by collision, or for any act, matter, or thing, loss, damage, or forfeiture done, occasioned, or incurred without the privity or knowledge of such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner in such vessle, and her freight then pending.
'Sec. 4284. Whenever any such embezzlement, loss, or destruction is suffered by several freighters or owners of goods, wares, merchandise, or any property whatever, on the same voyage, and the whole value of the vessel, and her freight for the voyage, is not sufficient to make compensation to each of them, they shall receive compensation from the owner of the vessel in proportion to their respective losses; and for that purpose the freighters and owners of the property, and the owner of the vessel, or any of them, may take the appropriate proceedings in any court for the purpose of apportioning the sum for which the owner of the vessel may be liable among the parties entitled thereto.
'Sec. 4285. It shall be deemed a sufficient compliance on the part of such owner with the requirements of this title relating to his liability for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction of any property, goods, or merchandise, if he shall transfer his interest in such vessel and freight, for the benefit of such claimants, to a trustee, to be appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction to act as such trustee for the person who may prove to be legally entitled thereto: from and after which transfer all claims and proceedings against the owner shall cease.'
The claim to a limitation of liability in the present case is made under the clause of section 4283 which provides that 'the liability of the owner of any vessel' 'for any act, matter, or thing, loss, damage, or forfeiture done, occasioned, or incurred, without the privity or knowledge of such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner in such vessel, and her freight then pending.' That section does not purport to confer any jurisdiction upon a district court. Section 4285, in providing for the transfer to a trustee of the interest of the owner in the vessel and freight, provides only that the trustee may 'be appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction,' leaving the question of such competency to depend on other provisions of law.