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4 ae master, it was decided in the case of SEGuRANCA, 250 Federal Reporter 19, though he may be the agent of the owner, he must collect freight money for the charterer, and where the duty exists, his r are liable for his acts or omissions in respect to its exercise. The master in the case at hand, it was then held, had implied authority to bind the owners and the ship in the matter of collection of freight money, due the charterers. Be Bek . A charter party providing that the owner shall maintain the vessel in a thoroughly efficient state in hull and ma- chinery for and during the services, makes the expense of repairs necessi- tated by mishap one to be borne by the owner, and the charterer is entitled to reimbursement for services rendered in making such repairs.--Aktieselskahet Stavangeren vs. Hubbard - Zemurray Steamship Co., 250 Federal Reporter 67. * Oe Ok A presumption of a vessel's unsea- worthiness necessarily arises and alone will sustain. recovery in a case where a vessel sinks from an unknown cause under circumstances where she had been subjected to no external peril, and where nothing but her wunseaworthiness can explain the accident. "In other words," said the court in the case of Transit, 250 Federal Reporter 71, "the presump- tion of unseaworthiness arises where the only inference in the circumstances is that of unseaworthiness. * * * of the Transit do not exclude all in- ferable causes except that of unsea- worthiness, but, on the contrary, very plausibly suggest another cause, the pre- sumption' does not exist." ' * Ok Ok The provision in a bill of lading that all litigation arising from the interpreta- tion of the execution thereof should be judged according to French law and by the court of the place indicated on the bill of lading (Bordeaux), "which court: the shippers and the claimants formally declare they accept as competent," must be construed as void--Kuhnhold vs. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 251 Federal Reporter 387. eos _ "It is not necessary, in order to estab- lish a claim to salvage, that the salvor should actually complete the work of saving the property at risk. It is suffi cient if he endeavor to do so, and his efforts have a casual relation to the eventual preservation of it."-- ANNIE Lorp, 251 Federal Reporter 157. In the same case it was said that the amount of salvage should be sufficient to obtain owners - As" the circumstances attending the sinking - Late Decisions in Maritin Legal Tips For Ship Owners and Officers Specially Compiled for The Marine Review -- By Harry Bowne Skillman Attorney at Law se ccc AAs again the same service, if conditions should repeat. ee ® "Like demurrage, wharfage can be fixed at a market rate which represents the amount of damages, loss of profits, etc. If proof be given of such a market rate, then no further proof would be necessary on the question of damage, and such a charge is properly al- lowed." --Trinwwap, 251 Federal Reporter 174. It was further decided in such case that where the owner of a vessel failed to pay for repairs, the vessel remaining in the dock of the drydock company which made the repairs, the vessel is liable for wharfage and such company is entitled to a lien thereon. * * * "A riparian owner's wharf may extend out to the edge of navigability; but this is a relative term. It does not follow that, because there is a 35-foot channel in a harbor, every riparian owner may wharf out to that channel, regardless of © his interest in reaching it, or of the obstruction to general navigation which he thereby causes. Particularly must this be true when, as here, the deep- water channel is upon the opposite side of the river, and the building of the wharf to that extreme limit is bound to interfere with the reasonable use of that channel by boats which must: use it.'--Bart Tutty, 251 Federal Reporter 856. ee The question in issue in the case of Koan Maru, reported in 251 Federal Reporter 384, was whether shellac had' been properly stowed. It was shown that "shellac is. easily' stained, that the com-. "partment in which it was. stowed had recently contained coal, and that the coal : dust had been removed by sweeping - only, without washing. It was held that such storage was negligent and_ that such negligence was not relieved be- cause of fault in management. The court also held that a clause in the bill of lading providing that in the event of liability no value should be placed on the merchandise higher than the invoice cost, not exceeding £50 per freight ton, or relatively for any por- tion thereof or exceed £20 per package, limited liability to £50 per ton in any case, and also not to exceed £20 per package, and the shipper did not have the option to choose whether its goods came under one or the other of these figures, Hike ok In the case of AvreNcER. re i » reported in 251 Federal Reporter 19, it appeared that salvage services had been rendered the 256 TUTTI TTT A HAA IC Law ship named under a contract providing that the ship should be floated and de: livered to the owners at a certain port within 60 days, with a provision for an extension of 30 days, if satisfactory progress had been made in the work. The contract was on a "no work, no pay" basis. The libelant entered upon the work and dug a channel 2220 feet long, through which to. float the ship, but failed to float it within the stipu- -lated 60 days, and an extension of time was declined. The question was whether satisfactory progress had been. made, so as. to entitle libelant to an extension of time, and the court held that in view of the character of the work, which was the subject matter of the contract, and the privilege of an extension of a fixed period, provided for in it, it belonged to the class where "satisfactory" was the equivalent of "reasonable," and the parties had themselves defined what - should be construed reasonable, namely, a performance within 90 days, if the rate of progtess at the end of 60 days assured a complete performance within 30 days thereafter. * * ** Inthe case of the Bercrer, 246 Federal Reporter 966, it appeared that certain seamen signed articles at Havre, France, for a service of two years on a British ship, each seaman receiving at the time an advance of one-half a month's wages, which was legal under the British law. On arrival at New York, they demanded one-half their wages, which demand was refused, the facts showing that they were really deserting the ship because of their fear to continue on ' account of submarines ,and only used the demand for half wages as a means of getting paid without performing their contracts. The seamen sued for full wages, claiming under the seamen's act of March 4, 1915. The court held that while such act has abolished remedies for recapturing deserters, it does not, however, enable men to collect wages by making demands for half wages, which are part of a scheme to leave the. ship. It was further held that while the act forbids advances. and provides that they shall not constitute payments on account, and that it shall apply as well to foreign vessels while in waters of the United States as to vessels of the United States, the ad- vance by the master of the British vessel of one-half the wages upon sign- ing of articles is binding, and must be credited to payments, for it cannot be said that the act was intended to apply to advances made upon foreign vessels outside the United States, but only. to advances made while such vessels were within the jurisdiction of the waters of the United States.