Pennant Oil & Grease Co. v. Swayne & Hoyt, Ltd.

This is a libel to recover cargo damage. The jurisdictional facts are stipulated. It is further stipulated that respondent and the steamship Point Brava received at the port of New Orleans, La., approximately 147,131 gallons of lubricating oil for transportation to the port of Los Angeles, Cal., that said oil was stowed in the deep tank of the said Point Brava, and did not contain any salt water in it at the time it was received by respondent, and that upon delivery of the cargo at Los Angeles it contained a certain amount of salt water, the presence of which was caused by sea water entering the vessel’s deep tank during the voyage through leaky rivets in the shell plating of the vessel; that at and for some time prior to the voyage in question, the respondent owned and operated a fleet of vessels engaged in the business of carrying general cargo between regular ports on the Gulf of Mexico and other regular ports on the Pacific Coast. It was proved that the respondent had carried other cargoes of oil in the deep tanks of its vessels, including the Point Brava, , prior to the voyage here in question.

The contract of affreightment contained the following provision: “At least five…