The Ferncliff

22 F.Supp. 728 (1938) THE FERNCLIFF. No. 2155. District Court, D. Maryland. February 10, 1938. Supplemental Opinion March 29, 1938. *729 *730 George W. P. Whip, of Baltimore, Md., and Kirlin, Campbell, Hickox, Keating & McGrann, of New York City (Charles R. Hickox, of New York City, of counsel), for libelant. George Forbes and Henry L. Wortche, both of Baltimore, Md., and Hunt, Hill & Betts, of New York City (George Whitefield Betts, Jr., of New York City, of counsel), for respondent. CHESNUT, District Judge. In this admiralty case a libel in rem has been filed by H. J. Baker & Bro., against the motor vessel "Ferncliff" for damage occurring to a very large cargo shipment of fish meal from Japan to Norfolk and Baltimore. The damage is alleged to have been caused by improper stowage. The respondent denies negligence and attributes the damaged condition of the fish meal to its inherent characteristics. The case has been submitted upon voluminous testimony partly by depositions but principally by examination of witnesses in court. On the main facts with regard to the stowage, carriage and discharge of the fish meal, the case is very like The Nichiyo Maru in this court, 14 F.Supp. 727; affirmed on appeal, 4 Cir., 89 F.2d 539 (which may hereafter be conveniently referred to as the Wellman Cases), in which three Japanese ships carrying fish meal from Japan to Baltimore were held at fault in stowage. Other cases of like nature are The Willfaro, The Willsolo, D.C., 9 F.2d 940, and The Niel Maersk, D.C., 18 F.Supp. 824 (reversed on appeal for failure of the libellant to affirmatively prove good condition on delivery to the vessel) 2 Cir., 91 F.2d 932, certiorari denied Bradley v. The Niel Maersk, 302 U.S. 753, 58 S.Ct. 281, 82 L. Ed. ___, December 6, 1937. This case must, of course, be decided on its particular facts appearing from the testimony which has taken an even wider range than in the Wellman Cases with respect to the characteristics of fish meal as viewed both scientifically and commercially. It is probable that all presently available knowledge upon the subject has *731 been covered by the testimony in the case. The primary question is one of fact, whether there was negligence in stowage. But in addition this case presents some important questions of law, arising on the provisions of the bills of lading, which were not involved in the Wellman Cases. The important and controlling facts here are as follows. The libellants are engaged in a large way in the purchase and sale of feed and fertilizer goods, their main office being in New York City with branches in Baltimore and Norfolk. On December 13, 1935, they made a contract with the New York branch of a Japanese corporation, Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha, Ltd., for the purchase, under c. i. f. contract, of from 4,000 to 5,000 tons of Japanese fish meal for delivery at certain Atlantic ports in the United States, including Norfolk and …