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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0487 and id is 1 raw text is: THE 'MALTA
and the Court will adhere to the valuation and to the award. There is, in this case,
an union of military and civil salvage.
In reply.-In tle case of The Betsey, the valuation was made by the parties
themselves.
Judgment-Sir Christopher Robinson.-Everything has been done most bene-
ficially for the owners, under the superintendence of their own agents, assisted by
the agent of Lloyd's. If bail had actually been taken so as to bring the present case
within the case cited, there would have been sufficient to induce the Court not to
disturb what had been done, as it would be unwilling to discourage the settlement
of such questions on the spot in a fair and liberal manner. The valuation does not
prove that the estimate was excessive with reference to the value of the vessel at
the Havannah: she might perhaps have an opportunity of earning a freight. In
respect to the other point, war salvage has always been considered as fixed at a low
rate, and has been in-[158]-creased on special services. The difficulty arises chiefly
from the small value of the property under consideration ; but, upon the wbole, it
will be most advisable to give a specific sum, abating something in the estimate.
'The Court therefore gives £200 with the expenses.
MALTA -(Young). April 22, 1828.-Though under the principle, that freight
is the mother of wages, mariners lose their wages by an interruption of the
voyage from accident, the condemnation of the vessel for illegal trading on the
part of the master, to which the mariners are not parties, does not work a
forfeiture of wages, nor even bar the mariners of their action against the owners ;
and charges of disobedience, neglect of duty, of intoxication and mutiny, not
being established, wages pronounced for.
[Referred to The Lady Durham, 1835, 3 Hagg. 202.]
This was a su4 for wages brought by John Walker, late mate on board the
Malta, against the owners, Messrs. Ramsden & Booth of Liverpool. The summary
petition stated the services of the mate, and the circumstances under which the
vessel had been seized by Capt. Willes, of H.M.S. Brazen, and condemned at
Sierra Leone for a breach of the slave abolition Acts. The admission of this summary
.petition was opposed on the general principle, that wages were not due till the arrival
of the vessel at her final port of destination ; and upon the grounds that it was the
first claim of the kind ; and that the remedy of the mate was against the ship itself,
or proceeds arising from the sale of the ship, which were in the registry of the Ad-
miralty Court. Lord Stowell having admitted the petition, reserving the question
of law, an allegation on the part of the owners, charging the mate with disobedience,
neglect of duty, intoxication, and mutiny, was admitted without opposition. Upon
the summary petition three mariners were examined. Upon the allegation the
master was examined, and [159] it was submitted that his evidence was given under
a bias, as the mate had been a witness against him upon his (the master's) trial at
the Admiralty Sessions for piracy ; and that the present case was the first in which
there had been an attempt to establish a charge of mutiny on the evidence of the
master.*
Lushington and Addams for the mariner.
The King's Advocate and Dodson, contra.
Judgment-Sir Christopher Robinson: This is a cause of wages brought against
the owners of the Malta by the mate, who had entered into the service of the
ship at Liverpool in March 1825, for a voyage to the coast of Africa and back to this
country; he continued in her service till she was seized and brought to adjudication
at Sierra Leone for alleged trading in slaves. On those proceedings the vessel was
* On the 21st of November 1827, the proctor for the owners brought in the log-
book, which had been sent from Sierra Leone ; and at the hearing, it was objected,
for the mate, that, not being pleaded, it was inadmissible ; and upon its being stated
that the entries were in the hand-writing of the mate, it was replied, that that cir-
cumstance should have been put in plea, and the parts to be relied upon pointed
out, that the mate might have explained under what circumstances the entries
were made. The Court permitted the log to be adverted to, observing that it would
be a convenient practice if the parts of a log which were material, could be agreed
upon by both parties, and extracted.
.202
2 HAGO. 158.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0487&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)