Court Opinion

ID: 8124657
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-09 15:04:38.512639+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:39:10.383157
License: Public Domain

Brown, J.
The charter-party contains a warranty that the vessel Bhall be “seaworthy, and in all respects tight, staunch, strong, and every way fitted for such a voyage.” This is not a warranty that the charterers could get insurance, but it is a warranty that the vessel was insurable; that is, a proper subject for insurance at the ordinary rates for such a cargo and such a voyage. The Vincennes, 8 Ware, 171, 178. The fact that certain insurance companies refused insurance is not, indeed, conclusive evidence that the ship was not seaworthy; nor is the fact any more conclusive that the ship was seaworthy, that she made a subsequent voyage without foundering. Seaworthiness is, indeed, a fact to be ascertained and determined like any other question^of fact. Questions of seaworthiness arise mostly after a loss has happened. But where a well-grounded suspicion of unfitness arises before loading, under a warranty of seaworthiness, a merchant is not required to put his cargo on board and run the risk of her foundering, before determining whether the ship is seaworthy or not, or whether the warranty in'the charter-party is complied with. The question must be determined beforehand upon the judgment of those most competent to decide. Such a warranty, moreover, has reference to the necessities of business, and to the universal if not necessary practice of insuring cargoes. Practically, therefore, the warranty of seaworthiness is a warranty that the vessel is in such a fit condition for all the ordinary hazards of the contemplated voyage as to be approved as seaworthy in the judgment of impartial, competent, and experienced men versed in that business. There is no other possible way in which the charterer can determine such a question, or decide whether he may safely load the vessel, or whether he is bound to load her. Buch is the practical test which the charterer has the right to apply, and which the ship must bear, or else the charter may be rightly thrown up.
In this point of view, the almost unanimous refusal of the several insurance companies to insure the cargo upon this vessel, not being limited to rate, becomes very strong presumptive evidence of the unseaworthiness of this vessel in the judgment of those most especially called upon to examine and determine such questions. This was followed up by further proof of a careful examination by a surveyor sent for the purpose to determine whether insurance should be taken or not. There is no reason to infer any bias in this ease against the ship. The business of insurers is to insure all vessels fit for insurance. There are the same competitions in this business as in others. The examination disclosed a greater amount of decay in the essential parts of the ship than Lord Eldon, in the ease of Douglas v. Scougall, 4 Dow, 269, considered undoubted proof of unseaworthiness. On this examination the ship’s carpenter accompanied the surveyor, and made the borings testified to; and neither he nor any other witness has been called to qualify the surveyor’s testimony as to the defects pointed out.
*413Much additional testimony was given upon this subject on the question of seaworthiness, all of which I have considered; but in my judgment it does not materially affect what has been said above. The test is not whether the ship may possibly make one or several voyages without foundering, but whether she is so staunch in her character as to approve herself as fit for the navigation contemplated, in the judgment of competent men, according to the customs and usages of the port or country; and this, clearly, this vessel was not in a condition to do. The Vesta, 6 Fed. Rep. 532; The Titania, 19 Fed. Rep. 101, 105-107; Tidmarsh v. Washington Ins. Co. 4 Mason, 439, 441; The Orient, 16 Fed. Rep. 916; French v. Newgass, 3 C. P. Div. 163.
In this case there is no possible suspicion that the respondents were actuated by any other motives than to avoid great risk of loss through their inability to obtain insurance of the cargo, notwithstanding great exertions to do so. It was greatly to their interest to load the vessel, if she were a fair risk, since freights were rising; and thej finally effected a new charter in place of this ono at a greatly increased eost. The refusal of insurance had reference solely to the unsatisfactory condition of the ship. To hold a charterer, under such circumstances as appear in this case, bound to load the ship and become his own insurer, -would in my judgment defeat, in a great measure, the very purpose of the covenant of seaworthiness, and impose upon the charterer an alternative and a risk never intended by this contract. The case of The Vesta, supra, is applicable here, and commends itself to my judgment. I do not impugn the good faith of the master in his belief that this vessel could actually cross the Atlantic in safety, as she actually did. Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied that she was not in such a sound and staunch condition as to meet the approval of competent and impartial judges as to seaworthiness, and that the respondents were therefore justified in refusing to load her.
The libel must therefore be dismissed, with costs.