UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

THE BRIG COLLENBERG, 66 U. S. 170 (1861)

66 U. S. 170

U.S. Supreme Court

The Brig Collenberg, 66 U.S. 1 Black 170 170 (1861)

The Brig Collenberg

66 U.S. (1 Black) 170

Syllabus

1. A vessel with a perishable cargo, driven by stress of weather out of her course and into a strange port for repairs, is not liable for such injuries to the cargo as are caused merely by the delay of the voyage.

2. The consignee cannot recover against the vessel for the loss thus occasioned to the cargo without showing some fault, misbehavior, or negligence of the master or crew.

3. If the master was justified in putting into a port for repairs -- if he used proper diligence in getting the repairs made -- if he exerted himself to preserve the cargo under the best advice he could get and if he was unable to send the cargo forward by another vessel, his conduct is blameless and the consignee has no claim against the vessel.

4. When some portion of a perishable cargo has suffered by decay without the fault of the master, and was for that reason left behind on the voyage, the shipowners are entitled to recover for the freight on all that was duly transported and delivered.

This was a libel in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, filed by John S. Lawrence against the brig Lieutenant Admiral Collenberg for damages suffered by a cargo of fruit shipped at Palermo for New York and injured by decay on the voyage. The owners of the vessel denied the right of the consignee of the cargo to recover the damages he claimed and filed a cross-libel for freight, primage, general and particular average. The district court dismissed the libel in the first suit, and in the other made a decree in favor of the ship owners for the freight &c. This was affirmed by the circuit court, and the consignee took appeals to this Court in both cases.

The facts are specially stated in the opinion of MR. JUSTICE CLIFFORD. clubjuris

Page 66 U. S. 173


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