Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/614

 603' FEDERAL REPORTBS. �covered. She was caulked and reloaded, and brought her cargo to Bos- ton, but it had already sufEered the damage which the district court bas found to be juatly chargeable to the vessel. �The libellants ihtroduced evidence tending to show that the schooner was of a mode! and build unsuited to the heavy cargo of sugar which she undertook to carry, and that the caulking of her seams had been neglected. The claimants met these allegations; and, upon the whole evi- dence, the district judge was of opinion that the schooner waf, in these particulars, sufficient and suitable for the voy- age. I am of the same opinion. But behind this is the question, how so much water came into the vessel without being discovered? The condition of the vessel, when she was examined, would not account for seven feet of water being found in the hold four hours after it had been pumped dry, or found to be dry. The officiai surveyors of the district court at Philadelphia so reported, and every witness con- fiiTOB them. Two suggestions have been advanced in evi- dence and in argument to explain the fact : �(1) That the seamen neglected to try the puraps ; (2) that the limbers were choked so that the water could not reach the pumps. �Upon the evidence each theory is improbable ; but one or the other, it seems, must be true. If the limbers were stopped, the libellants maintain that it must have been by coal dust, which sifted into them upon the voyage from Scot- land; and the claimants insist that the hoavy molasses, or liquid sugar, which drains from a cargo of muscovado sugar, might harden, and effect this injurious resuit. �The Bugar owned by the libellant company was insured by the Pacific Insurance Company of New York, and the Phœnix Company of Brooklyn, and after this libel had been filed those companies paid the loss to the libellant company, under an agreement which is made a part of the record, by which the libellant is bound to repay to the underwritors any sum or sums which may be recovered by decree, or settlement, in virtue of the unseaworthiness of the vessel, or the negligence of her officers or crew. �The district judge held that the owners of the ship had not ��� �