The Alaskan

Arthur F. Hutton, doing business as Hutton Machine Works, filed his libel against the steamship Alaskan, her boilers, engines, machinery, boats, apparel, and furniture, to enforce a lien for repairs furnished to the vessel between the 24th day of August, 1909, and the 29th day of September of the same year. The lien was claimed under section 1182 of Rem. & Bal. Code Wash., which provides as follows:

The British Columbia Marine Railway Company, Limited, intervened as claimant, and on the final hearing the libel was dismissed on the ground that it did not appear that the repairs were furnished on the credit of the vessel. From this decree the present appeal was allowed and prosecuted.

The sole question in the case is: Were the repairs furnished on the credit of the vessel, or was credit extended exclusively to the owner or agent ? If it appears that supplies or repairs were not furnished on the credit of the vessel, no lien attaches under the maritime law; hut it is well settled that there is a presumption that supplies or repairs, ordered by the master or other ship’s agent, were furnished on the credit of the vessel, unless the contrary appears. Thus, in the case of The Emily…