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Although no freight is due unless a vessel completes her voyage and deliver her cargo at the port of delivery, yet, if advancemoney has been paid and described as such in the charter-party, the freighter cannot recover it back, should the ship be lost or captured in the voyage. On the same principle it has been decided, that passage-money, paid in advance, is not recoverable, in case the vessel be wrecked, or unable to prosecute her voyage.

In the payment of freight for living animals, whether men or cattle, some of which may die during the voyage, the following distinction has been made :- If the agreement be to pay freight for landing them, the shipowner will be entitled to freight, notwithstanding their death; but, if for transporting them, no freight is due for those that die on the passage. No freight, however, is due for an infant born during the voyage.

Where freight is contracted for monthly, or for any other stated period, and the ship is lost or captured, the owner is entitled to freight for the number of months which have transpired previous to the loss or capture.

Payment of freight is demandable from the consignee alone; but receiving goods in the character of agent or broker will not create a liability to pay freight. As the payment of freight is usually made an express condition of the delivery of the goods, the owner has no lien on them till that condition has been fulfilled, and the voyage completed.

If part of the cargo be thrown overboard for the preservation of the ship and the remainder of the goods, or if the master is compelled to sell a part of the cargo for victuals or repairs; in these cases, if the ship afterwards reach the place of destination, the owners will be entitled to the freight for the goods so cast overboard or sold.

As to the right of the freighter to abandon his goods, it has been settled, that, where goods have been so damaged during the voyage as to render the freight of more worth than the goods, the freighter, in certain cases, may abandon them, and, by so doing, discharge himself from the freight. If the damage has proceeded from the fault of the master, the merchant may recover compensation from him or the owner, provided he has not received the goods. But if the damage has been caused by the perils of the sea, or has proceeded from natural decay, or any destructive action inherent in the commodity itself, the merchant must bear the loss and pay the freight.

IX. BOTTOMRY AND RESPONDENTIA.

Bottomry is in the nature of a mortgage of a ship, when the owner borrows money to enable him to proceed on his voyage, and pledges the keel, or bottom of the ship, as security for the repayment. In this contract it is understood, if the ship be lost, the

lender loses his whole money; but, if it return in safety, then he shall receive back his principal, and also the premium or interest agreed upon, however it may exceed the legal rate of interest. If the ship and tackle be brought home, they are answerable for the money lent, as well as the person of the borrower. But, if the loan is not upon the vessel, but upon the goods and merchandise, which must be necessarily sold or exchanged in the course of the voyage, then only the borrower, personally, is bound to answer the contract; who, therefore, in this case, is said to raise money on respondentia.

In this consists the difference between bottomry and respondentia; the one is a loan upon the ship, the other a loan upon the goods. In the former case, the lender runs no risk, though the goods shall be lost; in the latter, the lender is entitled to principal and interest, though the ship be lost, provided the goods are safe.

The amount of the loan on bottomry or respondentia, in England, is not restrained by any law whatever, though it is, in many maritime States, by express regulation: the only restriction in England is that subsequently mentioned (p. 488), with respect to money lent on ships and goods going to the East Indies, which must not exceed the value of the property on which the loan is made.

The bottomry and respondentiary bonds usually express the nature of the risks to which the lender is liable, and are nearly the same against which the underwriter, in a policy of insurance, undertakes to indemnify. These risks are tempests, fire, capture, and every other casualty, except such as arise either from defects in the ship or merchandise on which the loan is made, or from the misconduct of the borrower.

The respondentia interest is frequently at the rate of 40 or 50 per cent., or in proportion to the risk and profit of the voyage. The respondentia lender may insure his interest in the success of the voyage, but it must be expressly specified in the policy to be respondentia interest, unless there is a particular usage to the contrary.-Park on Insurance, 11.

X. AVERAGE.

Average, in maritime contracts and in insurance, has three significations: 1. It means a partial loss of anything insured, as if the ship or goods are partially lost or injured, and the insurer is bound proportionally to compensate the insured; which is called a particular average. 2. If the master of a ship in distress throws goods overboard with a view to preserve the whole ship and cargo, that is a total loss to the owners of these goods; but that loss, so sustained for the general welfare, is brought into a general average, and all who are concerned in the ship, freight, or cargo, must bear

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a proportional part of it; which average loss so borne by them, their insurers, if they have any, must make good to them. 3. Average is applied to a small payment, which merchants who ship goods make to the master for his personal care and attention to the goods so intrusted to him.

As to particular averages, the insurance companies and underwriters limit their liabilities by conditions attached to their policies to £3 and £5 per centum upon certain articles specifically named. But this restriction does not extend to a loss arising from a general average, in which case the insurers are liable, even though the loss is under three per cent.

The loss arising on a general average is always payable by the insurer, and rated on the value of the articles which are to contribute thereto. The ship is valued at the price she is worth on her arrival at the port of delivery. The freight is valued after deducting seamen's wages, pilotage, and other small charges, denominated petty averages, of which the cargo bears two-thirds, and the ship the remaining third.

The goods saved as well as lost are valued at the price they would have fetched at the port of delivery. Each person's share of the loss will bear the same proportion to the value of his property that the whole loss bears to the aggregate value of the ship, freight, and cargo.

When the loss of the ship's rigging or masts is compensated by a general average, two-thirds only of the value of the new articles is contributed. The contribution in general is not made till the ship arrives at the port of delivery, but accidents may happen which may cause a contribution before she arrives at her destined port.

When goods are shipped on an invoice, an average loss upon a policy must be calculated upon the invoice price, and not upon the price of the market at which the damaged goods are arrived.

XI. PILOTAGE.

A pilot is a person who steers or directs the course of a vessel, and is a term applied to an important class of men licensed to navigate ships within certain limits of the coast, and inward and outward the rivers and harbours of the kingdom. Pilotage in the Thames and Medway, and along the coast from Orford ness to the Isle of Wight, is regulated by the Corporation of the Trinity House and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. In other ports of the United Kindom, pilots are appointed and regulated either by local acts, or by ancient charters of incorporation, or by the Mercantile Marine Act, 17 & 18 V. c. 104. In all those parts of a voyage where a pilot is employed by regulation and usage, termed a "pilot's fair way," one must be obtained unless exempt, as will

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be hereafter stated. It is only, however, oversea vessels, not coasting vessels, on whom the employment of pilots, within the pilotage jurisdiction, is compulsory. The master of a vessel having a regular pilot on board is not responsible for damage caused by the pilot's unskilfulness or negligence. But his proceedings must not be controlled by the master. On the other hand, the pilot's presence does not absolve the master from the consequences of his own carelessness.

The authorities, in matters of pilotage, are empowered to qualify masters or mates who have obtained certificates, to conduct their own vessels. Any master or mate who has passed an examination and obtained a certificate of seamanship and fitness, may navigate his own vessel within the limits in regard to which he has passed his examination. Such certificate to be renewed annually but the certificated party not to employ any unlicensed pilot to assist him. Certificates can only be granted by the Trinity House, or other competent authority: to be used within the limits of their jurisdiction, and when a concurrent jurisdiction exists, the certificate must be obtained from each separate authority.

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By 35 & 36 V. c. 72, s. 9-11, Trinity House may modify the rules as to pilotage rates, and any pilotage authority may, if authorized in that behalf by order in council, grant special licenses qualifying the persons to whom they are granted to act as pilots for any part of the sea or channels beyond the limits of any pilotage authority, but no pilot so licensed to supersede an unlicensed pilot outside the limits of the authority by which he is licensed.

XII. MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1873.

By 36 & 37 V. c. 85, every British ship registered after the passing of the act, shall, before registry, and every British ship registered before the passing of the act, shall, before the 1st of January, 1874, have particulars as in the act mentioned marked on her. The act deals with the agreements with seamen under s. 149 of the act of 1854, and gives seamen compensation for unnecessary detention on charge of desertion.

The act also empowers the Board of Trade to establish mercantile marine offices, and to hold examinations at certain ports. It also deals with the survey of ships supposed to be unseaworthy, and states the duties of masters in case of collision. It also places

restrictions on carriage of dangerous goods, and gives the master power to refuse to carry them, or to throw such goods overboard. In any legal proceedings under the Merchant Shipping Acts, the Board of Trade may take proceedings in the name of their own officer.

The following signals are to be used when a pilot for a ship is required, on and after the 1st of November, 1873, and for using

any other signal the offender is to be liable to a penalty not exceeding £20-In the day-time, to be hoisted at the fore, the jack or other national colour usually worn by merchant ships, having round it a white border one-fifth of the flag, or the International Code pilotage signal indicated by P. T. At night, the pyrotechnic light commonly known as a blue light, every fifteen minutes, or a bright white light flashed or shown at short or frequent intervals, just above the bulwarks, for about a minute at a time.

The new signals in the day-time, to be used when a ship is in distress, are three in number:-1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute; 2. The International Code signal of distress indicated by N. C.; and 3. The distant signal, consisting of a square flag having either above or below it a ball, or anything resembling a ball. At night the signals to be-1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute; 2. Flames on the ship, as from a burning tarbarrel, oil-barrel, &c. ; and 3. Rockets or shells of any colour or description, one at a time at short intervals. Any master of a vessel who uses or causes or displays, or permits any person under his authority to display, any of the signals, except in a case of a vessel being in distress, shall be liable to pay compensation for any labour undertaken, and such compensation may, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recovered in the same manner in which salvage is recovered.

CHAPTER XII.

Insurance.

INSURANCE is defined by Marshall to be a contract whereby one party, in consideration of a stipulated sum, undertakes to indemnify the other against certain perils or risks to which he is exposed or against the happening of some event. The party who takes upon him the risk is called the insurer, sometimes the underwriter, from subscribing his name at the foot of the policy; the party protected by the insurance is called the insured; the sum paid to the insurer as the price of the risk is called the premium; and the written instrument, in which the contract is set forth and reduced into form, is called a policy of insurance.

A policy may be either valued or open in the former, the property insured is valued and specified; in the latter, it is not mentioned. In an open policy the real value must be proved, in the other it is settled.

Policies are usually effected by the intervention of a broker; they must be duly stamped; and, being considered a simple contract, must be construed, as nearly as possible, according to the

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