Merchants Mut Ins Co v. Allen Same v. Weeks

• Decision Date: 28 March 1887
• Citation: 7 S.Ct. 821,30 L.Ed. 858,121 U.S. 67
• Parties: MERCHANTS' MUT. INS. CO. v. ALLEN. 1 SAME v. WEEKS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

121 U.S. 67

7 S.Ct. 821

30 L.Ed. 858

MERCHANTS' MUT. INS. CO. v. ALLEN.¹

SAME

v. WEEKS.

March 28, 1887.

Jos. P. Hornor and C. W. Hornor, for Merchants' Mut. Ins. Co. J. R. Beckwith, for Allen.

[

C. B. Singleton and R. H. Browne, for Weeks.

WAITE, C. J.

These appeals present the same questions, and may be considered together. The suits were brought on two policies of insurance, one insuring the interest of George D. Allen, and the other that of Silas Weeks, in the ship Orient, from April 15, 1882, to April 15, 1883, 'to navigate the Atlantic ocean between Europe and America, and to be covered in port and at sea.' At the time the policy was issued the ship was on the Atlantic ocean, bound on a voyage from Liverpool, England, to New Orleans, Louisiana, laden with a general cargo. The company knew of this when it executed and delivered the policy, and insured the vessel lost or not lost. New Orleans was the home port of the ship, and there the home office of the company was situated. All parties knew that the ship was sailing to and from that port The policy also contained this clause: 'Warranted by the assured not to use port or ports in eastern Mexico, Texas, nor Yucatan, nor anchorage thereof, during the continuance of this insurance, nor ports in West India islands between July 15th and October 15th, nor ports on the north-east coast of Great Britain beyond the Thames, nor ports on the continent of Europe, north of Antwerp, between November 1st and March 1st.' This warranty is part of the printed portion of the policy, but the portion describing what the insurance covered is in writing.

The ship arrived safely in New Orleans on her voyage from Liverpool, and, after unloading, proceeded to Ship Island, where she took on a cargo of timber for Liverpool, and while on her voyage to that port she was struck by a cyclone about 100 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico and wrecked.

The first question presented by the appellants is whether the insurance covered the ship while in the Gulf of Mexico. This depends on the meaning of the language of the policy construed in the light of the circumstances which surrounded the parties at the time of is execution. The evident purpose was to insure a New Orleans ship engaged in the Atlantic trade between Europe and America for a year, both at sea and in port. At the time the insurance was effected, she was on a voyage between Liverpool and New Orleans, and all parties knew that the business in which she was engaged took her in and out of the last-named port. That was her home port, and that was where the insurance company had its own office. That the navigation of the gulf was contemplated during the life of the policy is shown by the fact that certain of its ports were excluded from the risks the company assumed. This fairly implies that all others might be used, and as the ship was to be insured all the time during the year if she was employed in navigating the Atlantic between Europe and America, whether at sea or in port, it is evident the parties intended to cover her by the policy while sailing from port to port in that general trade. New Orleans is a leading American port in that trade. To get to and from it ships must navigate the Gulf of Mexico.

No one can doubt that the policy would cover at all times during the year a voyage to all the ports of Great Britain, except those north-east of the Thames, and to all ports on the continent of Europe north of the Mediterranean as far as Antwerp, and elsewhere on the northern coast between March and November. Yet, in doing so, the ship would have to sail in waters other than those of the Atlantic ocean. Taking the whole policy together, we cannot doubt it was the intention of the company to cover the ship while engaged in the Atlantic trade between ports in Europe and America other than those specially warranted against. Whether this would include ports east of Gibraltar it is unnecessary now to decide. It is true that, if there is a conflict between the written words of a policy and those that are printed, the writing will prevail, but, if possible, the writing and the print are to be construed so that both can stand. Here we think it clear that the written clauses, when construed in connection with those that are in print, have the effect of describing the trade in which the vessel was to be employed, rather than confining her navigation exclusively to the waters of the Atlantic ocean. If it were otherwise, while the ship would be insured in port and on the ocean, she would be uninsured while performing that part of her voyage from the ocean to the port, and from the port to the ocean. Such a condition of things will never be presumed in the absence of the most convincing proof to the contrary. We have no hesitation in deciding that the insurance covered the ship at the time of her loss. This disposes of all the questions which arise on the finding of facts.

The principal controversy in the case was as to the seaworthiness of the vessel. The court has found as a fact that she was seaworthy when she left Liverpool on the voyage during which the policies were issued, and also when she sailed from Ship Island on the voyage in which she was lost. To these questions the testimony was largely directed, and it was to some extent conflicting. At the trial the court was asked to find as follows: 'The ship Orient, prior to her departure on her last voyage, on first August, 1882, was run aground on Ship Island bar, where she remained for three days and two nights in bad and...