Krumbhaar v. Marine Insurance
Krumbhaar v. Marine Insurance
Opinion of the Court
This is an action on two policies of insurance on goods, shipped by the plaintiff in the ship Union, on a voyage from Philadelphia to Gottenburg and another port; warranted by the assured free from damage in consequence of seizure for illicit trade or seizure in port. The ship arrived with her cargo at Gottenburg, where permission to land the cargo was refused, in consequence of a decree of the king of Sweden, prohibiting the importation of colonial produce in neutral bottoms. At Gottenburg the captain received information of a similar decree of the king of Denmark, and therefore declined proceeding to Eckenforde as had
The declaration states a loss by seizure of the kings of Sweden and Denmark.
No actual seizure was made, but the plaintiff contends, that the decrees of Sweden and Denmark amounted to force, because the ship and cargo would have been liable to confiscation, had the captain attempted to act in contravention of these decrees. I shall give no opinion on the law, in case the captain had broken up the voyage and proceeded from Gottenburg to Philadelphia, because the facts exhibit a very different case. The plaintiff had a right to proceed to another port, after leaving Gottenburg, and although Eckenforde appears to have been the other port originally intended, .yet there was no obligation to go there. Gottenburg was very properly selected as the port at which the ship should touch for information, and according to the information received there, th'e captain might proceed to any other port. It is stated in the protest of the captain, that he determined to return to Philadelphia, but was obliged from necessity, to touch at some neighbouring port for repairs, and therefore went first to Leith. But we must judge not so much from his words as his actions. The ship arrived at Leith the 11th of January, and although the supercargo expected to be ready to leave it by the 20th February, they remained at that port until the 5th April. It appears that other American vessels had gone from Gottenburg to Leith, with a view of trading, so that notwithstanding the regulations of the British government, hopes were entertained of being able to dispose of colonial produce at Leith; and the fact was, that cotton was permitted to be sold, in consequence of which upwards of one-third of the cargo of the Union was disposed of. The amount of the whole cargo was about 46,000 dollars, of which about 17,000 dollars was cotton. The supercargo, Mr. Rush, wrote to his owners from Leith, on the
A distinction is taken in Schmidt v. United Insurance Company, 1 Johns. 263, between an interdiction of commerce with the port of destination, happening after the risk commenced, and where it arose before the voyage began. In the former instance the insurers are responsible for the consequences of the interdiction; but in the latter the contract of insurance is dissolved. This agrees with 1 Emerigon, 542. A majority of the judges held that a prohibition to trade with the destined port, by means of a blockade, was a peril within the policy, and going to another port after-
The voyage here was evidently projected on the unsettled-state of the political horizon in the north of Europe. We-know not with certainty when the Swedish decree was enacted, forbidding vessels with cargoes of colonial produce to be-admitted to entry in the Swedish ports. The defendants’ counsel, in their argument, have treated it as if it were cotemporaneous with the Danish decree of 8th September, 1810,, in which case it must have preceded the date of the policies above one month, which contained a warranty of the, goods being free from seizures in port. '
The ship and cargo -arrived in safety at the quarantine' ground near Gottenburg, on the 8th December, 1810, but permission was refused to enter the ship or discharge the cargo. The policies were on goods on board the ship Union, from Philadelphia to Gottenburg and another port. The vessel being bound to Eckenforde (a port in Holstein in Denmark) with orders to touch at Gottenburg, captain Barry hearing that the port of Eckenforde was also shut by the prohibitory Danish decree, sailed from Gottenburg on the 4th January, 1811, intending, as he swore in his last protest, to make the first port where he could refit the ship. She arrived at Leith, in Scotland, on the 10th of the same month, when a survey was had and the cargo unladen. When repaired in dock the cargo was reladed, which was not-permitted to remain on shore, except the cotton, which according to the protest was left to pay expenses. She afterwards sailed from Leith on the 4th April-, and arrived in this port on the 18th- May fol
I avoid giving any opinion whether the principle adopted by a majority of the judges of the Supreme Court of New York, in Schmidt v. United Insurance Company, (1 Johns. 249.) in the case of the destined port being in a state of blockade, is applicable to such port where trade is forbidden to cargoes of a particular description (ib. 262), or whether the interdiction of commerce at Gottenburg in this instance, supposed to have taken place before the commencement of the voyage, did not absolve the insurers from responsibility, particularly where the goods were warranted by the policies to be free from seizure in port. Other cases are said to be before us, where these principles must be decided, and I would not willingly disparage the claims of either party.Independently thereof the case before us affords sufficient grounds for our decision. Both policies on their face were effected on goods on board the ship Union from Philadelphia to Gottenburg and another port. The vessel and goods arrived in safety at Gottenburg but were denied an entry at
It appears to me, that the arrival of the ship at Leith satisfied the expression, other port, in the policies. It is true, the captain in his second protest states, that in consequence of leak, and the state of the ship, he was obliged to go to Britain to repair, and in his last protest, that the cotton was left at Leith to pay the expenses of refitting. But the letter of the supercargo, already stated, puts the case on very different grounds. The letter of .abandonment also expresses that the vessel having arrived at Gottenburg, was refused admittance, and then proceeded to the port of Leith, but was not permitted to leave any of her cargo except some cotton, which was left to pay the expenses of repairs, which clearly implies that the
This part of the case appears more in favour of the underwriters than that of Ferguson et al. v. Phœnix Insurance Company, 5 Binn. 544, where on a policy on goods on board the Logan from New York to Amsterdam, with liberty in case of being turned off on account of blockade, to proceed to a neighbouring port; the vessel after being twice captured proceeded to London, and there discharged her cargo; it was held, that London was a neighbouring port, and the insured had no right to abandon.
, Upon the whole, under all the circumstances of the case as submitted to us, I am of opinion, that judgment be entered for the defendants.
Judgment for the defendants.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.