Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/134

 122 FEDERAL REPORTER. �contract, depends upon the situation of the vessel as being upon the high seas or in a dock, reached its climax when it was held that a laborer who scraped the bottom of a foreign vessel, preparatory to her being coppered, had no lien. Brad- ley V. Bolles, Abb. Ad. 569. And that the ship-keeper of a doruestic vessel could not sue, even in personam, in the ad- miralty. Gumey y. Crockett, la. eQO. These decisions -were made during the time, after Judge Story's death, when the supreme court seemed bent upon narrowing the jurisdiction in all directions, by decisions, some of which have been over- ruled and others explained to Inean much less than they appeared to intend. " And adds, (p. 484 :) "It seems inered- ible that it ever could have been thought that the master, who in a proper case may charter, hypothecate, or even sell his ship, cannot bind it for the cost of stowing the cargo, which is one of the ordinary and self -evident necessities of a voyage." And he might have said the same thing as to dis- charging it. �In The Windermere, 2 Fed, Eep. 722, (1880,) Judge Choate held that the libellant had a lien for his services in removing ballast from a foreign ship, v?hile in the port of New York, for the purpose of putting her in condition to receive cargo for a contemplated voyage. In the course of the opinion he says that the rule which denied the maritime character of a stevedore's services in stowing or discharging cargo could only be maintained "on the doctrine of stare decisis, since it is now out of harmony with the aecepted principles of maritime law as declared by the courts of admiralty." �The same view was taken of the matter, on principle, by Judge Benedict, in The Cireassian, 1 Ben. 209. He says : "I confess that I have never been able to see any sound distinc- tion between the nature of the services performed in stowing and breaking out the cargo of a ship and the services per- formed in its transportation. The stowage and the landing of the cargo form a neoessary part of the contract of af- freightment. Without the performance of this duty no freight can be earned. The safety of the ship and cargo de- nends, in a great measure, upon the care and skill displayed ��� �