Peterson

The appellees recovered a judgment in the court below against the appellant in the sum of $19,114.32, the same to be apportioned in specified sums on behalf of the owners of the American schooner Louisa D, their heirs and legal representatives, for damages sustained in the year 1893 by the interference of the United States with the operation of said schooner on a voyage undertaken with the intention to hunt fur seals in the Bering Sea.

It is agreed that the questions presented on the appeal are but two: First, whether as matter of law the appellees sustained the burden of proof which rested upon them to show that a voyage to the Bering Sea was undertaken ; and, second, whether as matter of law there was interference with the voyage by the United States on a charge of unlawful sealing.

On February 1, 1893, the Louisa D, an American vessel with a crew of 21, cleared from the port of San Francisco bound on a hunting voyage in the North Pacific Ocean as the master might direct. In the crew were seven regular seal hunters, and the vessel carried six regular hunting boats and one stem boat. The intention was first to hunt off the coast of Japan, and later enter the Bering Sea for seal…