The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-09-28
LABEL CASE TO
SETTLE STATUS
ALL CHARTERS
VESSEL NOW IN PORT HAS BEEN
LIBELLED BECAUSE SHE RE-
FUSED TO GARRY 4 CARGO TO
GERMAN PORTS.

When the United States courts pa Is
on the case OF the British steamer
Bylands the status of vessels under
charter to carry Careees to countries
ar war will be settled. The Byiands
is now in Pensacola harber LOADING
cargo fer English ports after hav-
ms refused to carry a shipment Of
naval stores to German ports For
this she was iibeiied By the charterers,
Regarding the case the Morning News.
OF Savannah, where the ship was IL
belled. contained the following re-
Gently:
The admiralty suit now pending
against the British steamer Bylands,
which will probably be heard in No
Vcmber, is, according to William P.
Leaken. Esq, attorney for the owners.
the first case of it's kind that has come
up in the United States for more than
fifty years. and viii probably estab-
lfsh A precedent in admiralty praC-
tiCe.
The action against the Bylands was
libel filed by Busch and Jolles. Inc,
owners of part of the cargo. $500 bar
rels Of rosin. The suit against the
steamer was for abandoning her voy-
Bremen and Hamburg.
"Discussing the case yesterday Mr..
Leaken said:
1T appears that all charters and
bills of lading have contained the pro-
vision that in case Of war the perform
anCe of the voyage is always excused. .
Since the time of King Charles of
France and King Edward Of England
the provision has been: An act of God,
kings enemies. restraint Of princes,
rulers and people
1T seems that this ship did not
finish loading until after war had been
declared between England and Ger
many. So the interesting question
comes up. did the master of the By
lands do right or wrong in abandon
ing his voyage?
1.-The ship flies the British flag and
is owned in England The captains
sovereign had restrained all his eff
forts so as far as o the sailing of the
Bylands to the ports of Rotterdam,
Bremen or Hamburg was concerned.
because not only would the attempt
to make these ports surely meet with
the destruction of the vessel and her
cargo, but it would also be violation
of the ancient rule of trading with a
bellgerent nation.
$50 the Bylands discharged her
cargo here, the libel was filed against
her and there the matter stands for
the present
ON September IS it is expected Mr..
Leaken will file the answer of the
owners of the steamer.
"'Of COURSE added Mr.. Leaken,
there are complex questions that will
arise as a result Of the suit The char
terers, the South Atlantic Shipping
Company. want their money. and the
shippers want their freights, and this
case, which is the first Of it's kind
that has come up in Savannah, will no
doubt establish a precedent.
= AS far back a 1899 the high courts
are said to have held that war or
any change in political relations OF
countries makes a charter for a ship
destined to sail from one of these
countries to the other null and void,
not only as a legal act, but as the
clear public duty which a subject owes
his sovereign or the state in which
he lives This makes the abandon
ment of a voyage in this case not only
oxcusable, but a matter of duty and
obligation on the part of the master
and ship owner
According to Mr.. Leaken, no such
case as this in which the Bylands is
concerned has come up in this country
since 1859"