35 F. 307 | S.D.N.Y. | 1888
On tlie 15th of July, 1887, the libelants chartered to the claimant the schooner Osseo, to take “a cargo of coa] ” from Sydney, Gape Breton, to New York; the vessel “to load in turn, subject to the regulations of the mine, * * * and every unavoidable hinderance that may prevent the loading * * * excepted.” The vessel arrived at Cape Breton, and reported on the 11th of August; began loading on-the 12th; was interrupted for three days by the preference given to a steamer under the regulations of the mines; and completed her loading of 550 tons on the 25th. The libelants claim that five days was a sufficient time for loading, and that they are entitled to demurrage for the rest of the time during which the vessel was detained. The circumstances and customs of the mines at Sydney .are stated in the case of Eleven Hundred Tons of Coal, 12 Fed. Rep. 185, to which reference has been made; and the proof was similar on the present trial. But the charter in this case was not, as in that, for a “cargo of culm coal,” the loading of which is subject to special delays, but was for a “cargo of coal” generally; and ordinarily a cargo of “round” coal will be loaded in ball' the time taken for culm coal. The libelants testified that they did not know that the charterers intended to take culm coal only. The respondent’s evidence does not show that that was stated in the negotiations for the charter. But the evidence shows that for some months, at least, before this charter was executed, round coal had ceased to be imported on account of the high duty upon it, and that the charterers at
Reported by Edward G. Benedict, Esq., oí the New York bar.