Fisher Flouring Mills Co. v. United States

August 9, 1920, the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation, acting through its managing agents at Seattle, chartered the steamship Yosemite to the Fisher Flouring Mills Company and the White-Dulany Company, to carry grain from Puget Sound to European ports. The charter party provided that the rate should be $20 per long ton, that loading should not commence before October 15, 1920, and that if the vessel was not tendered ready for loading on or before 12 o’clock noon of November 15, 1920, the charterers should have the option of canceling the charter party. October 29, 1920, the steamship Westward Ho was substituted for the Yosemite under a right reserved in the charter party. Neither the Yosemite nor the Westward Ho was tendered or delivered for loading at the time agreed upon, and the charterers contend that they then agreed with the managing agents of the Fleet Corporation that the Eastern Mariner should be substituted in the place of the other vessels, and that the substituted vessel should be berthed for loading at the dock of the Harbor Island Dock & Warehouse Company at 8 o’clock on the morning of November 22, 1920. They further contend that the original charter party…