Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/643

 HAMILTON V. BARK KATE IRVING. 631

2. Measure of Damages.

Held, under the circumstances of this case, that the market value of the damaged cotton ties was to be determined by the price they actually produced when sold, and not by the testimony of experts.

In Admiralty. Damage to Cargo.

Wm. T. Brantly and A. Sterling, Jr., for libellants.

Sebastian Brown, for respondents.

Morris, D. J. There were shipped at Liverpool on board the bark Kate Irving 4,076 bundles of hoop iron, known as "cotton ties," to be delivered to the libellants at Baltimore. The ship took a general cargo, a large part of which consisted of bleaching powders and soda ash in casks. The hoop iron was delivered in Baltimore in a damaged condition, and it is for this damage that the libellants seek to recover. The bark had two decks, the lower one having open beams. This open-beam deck was covered in part by plates of iron, which formed part of the cargo, and on these were placed the hoop iron and the chemicals. In the forward part of the vessel was stowed part of the hoop iron; then came a space, of not over three feet, filled with dunnage; then came the chemicals, extending to abaft the main hatch; then there was another space, of from three to four feet, filled with dunnage; and aft of that the balance of the hoop iron was stowed. The vessel was not full. There was but one tier of casks on the between-deck, about four feet high, and the hoop iron was in small bundles, piled up about two feet high, and extended across the ship from side to side. The hoop iron used for cotton ties, such as these were, is in thin, narrow strips, painted black, but not put up in boxes or covered.

The vessel had a very rough voyage, and some of the casks of chemicals were more or less broken and their contents scattered; and, upon delivery, a large part of the cotton ties were found to be damaged, by being corroded by particles of the bleaching powder which had come in contact with them.

The proof shows that the casks of chemicals were well and securely stowed and dunnaged, and that they were no more injured than might easily result from a rough voyage with