Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/593

 586 FBDEBAL BBPORTEE. �ship, its prime cost at the place of shipment would be an insîg- nificant sum, notwithstanding the fact that if the ship had preoeeded safely a short distance further on her voyage, and had reached the port of New York, the cargo would have been worth $60 a ton. �With these facts before it the court (Blatchford, J.) was obliged to discover some reasonable method of applying the rule, which, while it would exclude profits, would not deny sub- stantial restitution to the party injured. �This the court did by deducting from the price in New York the expenses of the voyage, and an amount which the proof of experts showed would be considered by an importer a f air average profit for importing such an article. �The learned judge was compelled, in the absence of other data, to arrive at the price of the guano at the place of ship- ment by taking the market price at the place where it had a market price, and after deducting the expenses, and an aver- age profit to an importer of similar articles, he treated the residue as the equivalent of the market price at the place of shipment. That is to say, the price which merchants would probably be willing to give for the guano for exportation at the place of shipment if it was possible to buy it. �These cases serve to show that it has been found impracti- cable to apply literally, in ail cases, the rule allowing only the prime cost of the cargo at the place of shipment. In the case before me now it appears that the port of St. Pierre is a French port, near to the place of collision; that it is a market for cod, and a port where French fishing vessels quite com- monly sell a portion of their "catch." �It also would appear from the testimony that there is some advantage of price there for fish caught by French ves- sels, and that American ood-fish are not salable in France. It would not, therefore, I think, be just to undertake to esti- mate the value of the "catch" of the Briha by the price of similar fish in the fishing ports of New England or Canada, but I can see no objection to taking the price at St. Pierre as a basis. It was the nearest French port, and one not distant from her anch orage at the time of the collision. It is a mar- ����