Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/138

 126 FEDERAL REPORTER. �injure moat merchandise, the carrier was liable for ilowing the wood In contact with it ; but whether such liability extended to the extra- ordinary damage arising f rom the peculiar character ot the wood was not decided. �Libel by Browning Brothers against the ship St. Patrick for damage to a shipment of Lima wood by reason of its con- tact with Chemicals. The f acts were as follows : Libellants were the owners of 50 tons of Lima wood sfaipped from Liver- pool to Philadelphia on board the ship St. Patrick, and de- scribed as Lima wood in the bill of lading. The ship carried a general cargo, consisting of bleaching powder, soda-ash, and iron. Bleaching powder and soda-ash, owing to their chem- ical properties, have a tendency to injure most other merchan- dise with which they come in contact. Lima wood is a deli- cate wood, and liable to extraordinary injury from contact with chemicals. Its character and peculiar liability to injury, were not communicated to the master, and it beiag a some- what rare article of commerce he was not familiar with it and supposed it to be logwood. It was stowed promiscuously through the cargo, and in direct contact with the casks of bleaching powder, The vessel met with heavy weather, and at the conclusion of the voyage the wood was found to have been badly injured by the chemicals. This libel was then filed. �Henry O. Ward, for libellant. �Morton P. Henry, for respondent. �Butler, D. J. This case cannot be distinguished from Mainwaring v. Bark Carrie Delap, 1 Fed, Eep. 880, and Hamilton v. Bark Kate Irving, 5 Fed. Eep. 630. In both law and fact it is the same, — as respects the question now under consideration. Notwithstanding the eriticism of these cases, I think they were well decided. I find no conflict between them and the authorities invoked on the other side. They hold the carrier responsible for proper care in loading, — nothing more. In each case the libellant's merchandise was placed in unsafe proximity to other parts of the cargo — chemicals, which were certain to injure it at such a distance. �Here the Lima wood was ,placed in immediate contact with ��� �