Court Opinion

ID: 8640392
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-24 19:52:14.275241+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:56:04.851949
License: Public Domain

NELSON, Circuit Justice.
I am satisfied, that the repairs of the vessel at New Orleans, into which port she entered in distress, were, necessary; and that the money was lent on the bottomry bond in good faith, for the purpose of paying for those repairs, and was applied to paying for them.
The objection, that the repairs were made before the loan was effected, and, hence, that the loan was not necessary in order to procure the repairs and enable the vessel to proceed on her voyage, is not tenable. The repairs were made upon the credit of the vessel, and the loan was indispensable to relieve her from the charges.
The discharge of the cargo became .necessary, to enable the surveyors to ascertain the extent of the damage, and the ship master to make the repairs. That service was incidental to the repairs, and without it they could not be made, and, hence, the stevedore’s bill was a proper charge. So, in respect to the commissions for the procurement of the loan. They were incidental to the loan itself, as it could be raised, in the given cáse, only through an agency. This-principle is applicable, also, to several other items objected to.
The charges for the repairs and other expenses connected therewith are high, and may be unreasonable; but, the weight of the proof shows that they are the customary charges and expenses in the port of New Orleans. The premium of twenty per cent, on the bottomry bond is objected to as exorbitant and out of all proportion to the risk, but I cannot so hold, upon the proofs in the case.
If the question was between the claimants and the persons rendering the services to the vessel, I might be disposed to cut down some of the charges, notwithstanding the evidence in support of them. But I think that the lender upon.bottomry in good faith, and under circumstances which justified the loan, cannot be justly held responsible for the reasonableness of the charges in the repair of the vessel. He would be required, if held to this responsibility, to take upon himself the burden of contracting for or superintending all repairs.
Reasonable exertions were made by the consignee of the vessel to procure the funds from her owners and agents in New York, but they declined making the advances, or rather admitted their inability to make them, and the parties at the port of distress were left to raise the money as they best could.
Upon this view of the case, I must reverse the decree below, and decree, in favor of the libellant, the amount of the bottomry bond, except the $192.44 paid to the captain.