Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 1).pdf/487

 case at bar. Palmer and others had undertaken to carry some tobacco from Richmond to New York for Lorillard and the ship sailed upon the voyage in February, but, finding the Chesapeake blockaded, she returned to Richmond. Lorillard there demanded his goods in September, but the master refused to deliver them without being paid half his freight, and in a few days the vessel and cargo were totally lost in a storm at the wharf, and the court held in that case that the contract was only suspended by the blockade, and that the owner of the ship might detain the goods until they could prosecute the voyage in safety, unless the merchant would pay full freight. There the delay was three times as great as would have been sustained by the plaintiff in the case at bar if he had repaired his ship.” And in conclusion the court said: “But we are satisfied that the master lost the freight by his own act in giving up the voyage. He had an interest in carrying the cargo which he was not obliged to abandon on account of the accident that happened to theship. He might lawfully have insisted upon detaining the goods while the repairs could have been made, which it seems to us could have been made in a reasonable time.” The case of Allen v. Insurance Co., 44 N. Y. 487, is peculiarly in point. The vessel in that case was stranded, and afterwards prevented from completing her trip by the ice. The case is, if anything, stronger than the one at bar, for the court said that but for the detention by stranding she would have been able to finish her voyage before cold weather could have prevented its completion. But it is by no means certain that, had the Eclipse not been temporarily detained while repairs made necessary by running upon a snag were being made, she would have succeeded in reaching Ft. Buford before the ice could have stopped her progress. She was detained only from 5 o’clock in the afternoon until 8 the next morning, and it was undisputed that she always lay by at night. Therefore, little, if any, time was lost because of this accident. In the case cited the court held that the master had a right to complete the transportation on the opening of navigation to earn his freight, and to hold the cargo for that purpose unless paid full freight by the shipper. The court said, (page 443:) “Detention by the close of naviga-