The Golden Gate

A libel in rem was brought to enforce payment of a claim in the amount of $17,-025.12, alleged to have accrued in favor of libelant on account of fuel oil furnished for the use of the steamship Golden Gate. There is no real dispute here as to the fact that the oil was furnished for the use of the ship or that the contract value thereof was the total amount stated. Two deliveries of the oil were made at Balboa in the Canal Zone, on dates July 10, 1926, and October 13, 1926, respectively; two deliveries were made at San Pedro, Cal., on dates August 20, 1926, and October 27, 1926, respectively.

At the time the contract for the furnishing of the fuel oil was made and when deliveries were rendered as hereinbefore stated, the Southern Alberta Lumber & Supply Company, hereinafter referred to as the lumber company, was the charterer of the steamship. The charter party was made at Seattle, Wash., on June 5, 1925, and by it the steamship was let to the lumber company for a period of eighteen months for world-wide service, fully equipped by the owner, the claimant named in the title, and with a full complement of officers, seamen, engineers, and firemen. The libelant had no notice of the…