Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/884

 876 PEDEBAIi EBPOETER. �There is, I think, no doubt, upon the testimony, that the bleaching powders and. soda ash were properly dunnaged and stowed in the lower hold, and that the breaking up of some of the casks was owing to the pressure and working of the cargo during the heavy weather encountered, and the effect oî the bleaching powders on the casks themselves during the long voyage, and that it could not have been prevented by any reasônable care and skill on the part of those in charge of the vessel. �It was not shown, by any direct evidence, in what part of the ship the damaged bags were stowed; whether they were those stowed on the temporary deck above the bleaching pow- ders, or aft on the permanent deck. It is the theory of the claimants that the fumes in the hold of a ship penetrate into ail parts of the ship, and that they are espeeially strong in the after-part. In the absence of proof, however, which it would seem that the vessel could easily have produced, of the place from which the damaged bags came, I am unable to believe that these dangerous and corrosive fumes passed up, by and around these baies of bags on the temporary deck im- mediately above, without injuring them, to attack with accu- mulated destructive force other baies at a greater distance. I think, although the claimant's theory has some support in the opinions of some of the witnesses, the weight of evidence is that the danger of injury from bleaching powders depends in. a great manner on the distance between them and the articles liable to be injured, and that it must be taken as proved that the damaged bags were those immediately above the bleaching powders on the temporary deck. �It is also cleai-ly proved that the earrying of bleaching powders and soda ash in the same vessel with baies of bags, as parts of a general cargo, is a well-established usage of the trade between Liverpool and New York, and that the usage extends to the use of open-beamed vessels, like this bark, for the carriage of such general cargoes, including these articles. �It is claimed, on the part of the libellant, that the injury was caused by the stowing of the baies of bags too near the bleach- ing powders, and upon this temporary and loosely laid deck, ��� �