The La Kroma
| Decision Date | 12 June 1905 |
| Docket Number | 80. |
| Citation | 138 F. 936 |
| Parties | THE LA KROMA. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Anson M. Beard, White, White & Taulane, and Ernest E. Prevost, for libelant
Henry R. Edmunds, for respondent.
This libel was filed for the recovery of damage to a shipment of 2,700 bales of vegetable fiber from Oran, in Algiers consigned to libelants at Philadelphia on the steamship La Kroma on the 24th day of January, 1903, and arrived in Philadelphia on February 23, 1903. The fiber was sold to Peter Woll, Jr., importer, of Philadelphia, on delivery weight, upon the arrival of the steamer at this port. The bill of lading under which the cargo was shipped, as translated from the Italian, is as follows:
Not responsible for weight, nor quality, nor for loose bales. '(Signed) Captain R. D. Paravich.' Oran is an open roadstead, and when the La Kroma arrived at that port the fiber was loaded from lighters upon which it had been placed awaiting her arrival. The number of bales placed upon the vessel was 2,700, and according to the weight at Oran there was 305,256 kilos, which equals 674,615 pounds. Owing, however, to the fact that the bales were loose when loaded, the captain, before signing the bill of lading, insisted upon inserting the clause, 'Not responsible for the weight, nor quality, nor for loose bales. ' The vessel arrived in Philadelphia on the 23d day of February, 1903, and the captain requested a survey of the cargo. Four experienced sea captains were appointed, who made an examination, and afterwards testified that the cargo, consisting of spiegel iron, magnesite ore, and 2,700 bales of vegetable fiber, was properly stowed and dunnaged, but that the fiber was damaged from sweatage of the ship. The cargo was discharged at this port, immediately upon the arrival of the vessel, by Thomas Grace, a stevedore at this port, and the fiber was weighed by John W. Davis, a weigher appointed by the purchaser. The evidence shows that many of the bales were loose in place, as the strand of fiber with which they were bound had broken, but left them in such shape as to enable the stevedore to count the bales, although a very considerable number of them fell apart as soon as moved. The number, however, of bales, of whatever weight, was ascertained to be 2,700 by the stevedore who did the work. The weigher found 2,584 bales intact, weighing 602,364 pounds, and 22,083 pounds in bulk, making a total of 624,447 pounds, which was 49,832 pounds less than the weight shown by the bill of lading. All of the bales were damaged to some extent, 55 of which had a layer of blackened material, similar to decayed vegetable, half way up the height of the bales; and the remainder of the bale was musty, moldy, and discolored, graduating up to the top, where it was nearly normal in color. On 196 bales there was a...
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