Toyo Kisen Kabushiki Kaisha v. Willits & Co.

Decree in this ■ease was for libelants, and the respondent appealed. The proceeding was in personam.

The appellees were the consignees of merchandise which formed a part of the cargo of a ship owned by appellant which arrived in the port of San Francisco in May, 1924. It was found upon discharge of the cargo that the merchandise of appellees had been damaged by seawater. As a secondary cause of damage, it appeared that a lot of arsenic acid belonging to the appellee Pacific Orient Company had, after being wet by the seawater, contributed to contaminate and injure other of the merchandise for which ‘libel was brought. As to the cause and character of the damage, no dispute arises in the case. It was claimed for the ship that it was seaworthy in all respects, and that no reasonable precaution had been neglected to keep it so ■during the voyage.

Not only was it undisputed that seawater produced the damage, but it was unquestioned that the water gained ingress through two holes in the side of the ship, which were there placed to receive bolts used to make fast to the steel sides, or “skin,” of the ship certain baffle plates. These plates were not a part of the protective sides of…