Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/488

 MITCHELIi V. LANGDON. 473 �their dock, in two days, so that she could have been unloadea ou the evening of the 26th. �The important question which has been discussed in this case is as to whather there was unreasonable and undue delay in commenc- ing the unloading of this cargo, as well as unreasonable delay after- •wards. Much of the proof in the record relates to the usage of this port as to the time within which a vessel arriving here is entitled to Yq fumished with a dock, and to be unloaded. �The proof in the case shows that by the usage of this port, and especially in regard to vessels loaded with coal, — and the same i;ule is probably applicable to any other cargo, — a consignee is entitled to 24 hours, or a f ull day, from the time the vessel reports in which to furnish her with a dock and begin unloading. This seems, in view of the nature of the business, to be generally acquiesced in, and so reasonable that I think the court must hold this is a usage which binds the trade in this port. The time of the arrivai of a sailing ves- sel (even if the consignee is advised of the time of her sailing) being dependent entirely upon the weather, the course of the wind, etc., is always uncertain to the extent of several days, and it cannot be expeeted that a consignee will keep a force of men all the time ready at once to unload the instant the vessel reports. He must have time to collect bis men after the arrivai of the vessel, and one day would eeem to be only a reasonable time for doing this. He may also have other vessels at the dock in process of loading or unloading, and must have some time in which to dispatch them before accommodating the new arrivai. �The evidence in this case shows that the vessel arrived and reported Saturday morning. The consignees were not obliged, by the usage of ihe port or by the law of the land, to commence unloading her on Sun- day. Persons engaged in the unloading of vessels and receiving their cargoes have as good a right to rest on the Sabbath as any other class of laborers and business men, and certainly cannot be comT pelled to work against the law or their conscience on Sunday, and therefore they were not obliged to begin unloading untll Monday morning. They did commence unloading Monday morning, but only unloaded from one hatch at a time. The vessel bad two kinds of coal on board, but there was no bulk-head separating them. The consignees, for their own convenience, had the piles of different-sized coal Bo arranged on their dock that they were obliged, or found it more convenient, to unload only one-sized: coal at a time, and when that was out they moved the vessel so as to bring one of the other ��� �