The Carlos
The Carlos
Opinion of the Court
The deck of the Carlos was chartered for the carriage of creosoted piles from Puget Sound to San Pedro, and 560 piles were taken on board. Of these only 228 were delivered, the others having been lost overboard. This action is to recover tire value of 332 piles not delivered.
“Vessel to be permitted to carry ber usual deck load, but at skipper’s risk.”
This provision is manifestly one for the protection of the owners where the'whole ship is chartered to a third party, and is a limitation upon the right of such third party to carry a deck load, except at the shipper’s risk. The present charter is directly from the owner to the shipper of the deck space alone, and the provision in the Shipowners’ Association charter, “vessel to be permitted to carry her usual deck load,” is neither necessary nor appropriate to give effect to the present one, which is in the following form:
“We confirm* having this day chartered to you from Messrs. Olson & Mahony, the entire deck of the steamer Carlos to load a full deck load of creosoted piling and/or lumber, your option, from usual safe loading places on Puget Sound.”
As it was not necessary to import the words “vessel to be permitted to carry her usual deck load,” in order to render effective the present charter, so we cannot import the other words, “but at shipper’s risk,” which are but a limitation upon the permission granted by the preceding words; that is to say, as we cannot import into the present charter the permission to use tire deck, so we cannot import the words which are but a limitation upon that particular permission. The contention, therefore, that under the present charter the deck load was carried at the owner’s risk, has not been sustained.
While a heavy swell which causes a vessel to Ijst may be a peril of the sea, yet in the present instance the loss in question was not due to this cause alone, but to the listing of the vessel plus the fact that
I cannot but find that the loss of the piles in question was not due to any peril of the sea that should not have been provided against, and for that reason a decree will be entered establishing the liability of the Carlos, and referring the cause to the commissioner to ascertain and report the amount of damage.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE CARLOS
- Status
- Published