Agnew

In these consolidated actions, libelants, who comprised the greater part of a complement of approximately 172 crew members of the merchant ship President Harrison, seek recovery from respondent shipowner of so-called war risk bonus for the period of their internment on land (December 8, 1941, to August 15, 1945), by the Japanese, during World War II, and during part of their repatriation voyage (i. e. to the 180th meridian) to the United States, at the rates alleged to have been fixed in their shipping articles, as well as for an award for maintenance while interned. Their claims aggregate a sum in excess of $600,000. The United States intervened in certain of the actions for the purpose of protecting a claimed right on its part for reimbursement in the event of any award by the Court in favor of libelants for maintenance.

The facts disclosed at the trial are briefly as follows:

The President Harrison, having opened shipping articles on October 15, 1941, governing a voyage about to be taken, sailed on October 17, 1941, from San Francisco westward for Manila and other trans-Pacific ports. On December 8, 1941, she was overtaken and seized by the Japanese in waters off the Chinese…