Majority
Headnote
Defendant issued to plaintiff an open policy of marine insurance, covering one sixth of all goods consigned to the latter upon vessels from Santos “to New York, Baltimore or Boston direct, or via Hampton Roads for orders.” The rate of premium was stated to be “one (net throughout the year) per cent.” Risks were to be reported for indorsement on the policy as soon as known. Plaintiffs’ agent shipped at Santos, on boardThis is an action upon an open policy of marine insurance. It is specified in the policy that the insurance was to cover one-sixth of all goods consigned to the plaintiffs upon vessels from Santos, in Brazil, “to New
Plaintiffs’ agents in July, 1872, shipped at Santos, on board of the barque “ Eliza and Maria,” chartered for that purpose, a large cargo of coffee, valued at over $100,000 in gold. The charter-party specified a voyage from Santos to New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore, via Hampton Boads for orders. The vessel sailed July tenth, and August first, the plaintiffs having received the charter-party and advices of the shipment of the coffee through their brokers, reported the risk to the defendant as foil oafs : “ Enter on open policy of B. G. Arnold & Co. $18,279 gold on -J- of goods as per policy, valued at $109,675, on board Br. Eliza & Maria, from Santos to Noav York;” and there was indorsed upon the policy accordingly the following: “Aug.0l, 1872, barque Eliza and Maria, Santos to Now York, $18,279, one percent premium, $182.79.”
The vessel arrived at Hampton Boads in safety on the tAventy-fifth day of August, and there remained at anchor until she was run into and sunk by a steamer on the thirteenth day of September, eighteen days after her arrival, and her cargo became a total loss. This action is to recover the insurance for the loss thus sustained by the plaintiffs.
The defendant relies upon two defenses, which I Avill notice separately.
First. The risk, as reported by the plaintiffs to the defendant and indorsed upon the policy, was one from Santos to Noav York ; and the claim is that, after it Avas thus reported, the.insurance became one for a voyage from Santos to Noav York direct, and that by sailing into and stopping at Hamp
It was clearly proved that the risk was thus reported by mistake. The charter party required the master of the vessel to call at Hampton Hoads, and to the same effect were his written instructions. It was the intention of plaintiffs' agents to report the risk truly, but by an oversight,
. they omitted to specify that the voyage was “ via Hampton Hoads for orders.” There was no proof that defendant was in any way harmed by the mistake. The question, therefore, is, whether the plaintiffs were bound by an insurance upon the risk as thus reported, in the absence of any damage occasioned to the defendant by the mistake ?
The general rule is that the property insured must be specified in the policy. But open or running policies are an exception to this rule. They were brought into use to enable merchants to insure their goods shipped at distant ports, when it is impossible for them -to know the precise quantity or character of the goods, or the particular ship in which they are shipped, and thus unable to describe accurately or .particularly the subject of insurance : (1 Arnold on Marine Insurance [4th ed.], 318.) These policies generally, if not universally, require that the risk shall be declared or reported to the underwriter as soon as known to the assured. This requirement was said in The Carver Co. v. Manuf. Ins. Co. ( 6 Gray, 214 ), to be based upon these reasons : "To identity the property insured ; to know what was at risk, that they might protect it; to ascertain when the policy was exhausted ; and as evidence of the sums at risk and premium earned.” In this case, the moment the cargo was loaded for the voyage the policy attached. It was provided in the policy that it was to cover “ one-sixth of all shipments made,” as therein specified, and that the policy was “to cover all shipments made by vessels sailing prior to the 31st day of December, 1872.” It was intended that the insurance should cover all merchandise shipped by the assured in good seaworthy vessels from Santos upon the
This case must, therefore, be treated as if the proper declaration and indorsement had been made, and there was, therefore, no deviation in going into Hampton Roads for orders.
Second. The further claim is made, on the part of the defendant, that there was a breach of the policy in remaining at Hampton Roads for the eighteen days. The plaintiffs had the right, as between them and the defendant, after notice of the arrival of the vessel at Hampton Roads, to order her to New York, Baltimore or Boston. But the claim of the defendant is that they did not have the right to so long a time in which to give the order, and that no delay there can be justified, beyond what was necessary for the captain to
This vessel reached Hampton ¡Roads about 8 o’clock p. m. of August twenty-fifth. The next morning the captain telegraphed the plaintiffs at New York that he was there awaiting their orders. The following day he received a telegram from them directing him to send a box of samples of the coffee to their agents at Baltimore ; and in three or four days he received a letter in reply to his telegram telling him to await their instructions as to the port where he should go to discharge his cargo. He heard nothing more from them until after the loss of his vessel, about one o’clock A. m. on the thirteenth day of September. On the same morning he received a letter from them, dated September twelfth, directing him to sail for New York on the sixteenth, unless in the meantime they directed him otherwise by telegraph.
The plaintiffs received samples of the coffee by steamer before the arrival of the vessel at Hampton ¡Roads; and from the time they had notice of the arrival until the vessel was lost they and their agents at New York and Baltimore were constantly engaged in efforts to sell the coffee. There rvas quite a depression in coffee, in consequence of large failures in the coffee trade at Baltimore, and the plaintiffs Avere unable to effect a sale of this coffee, and therefore finally concluded to order the cargo to New York. The sole reason for delaying the order so long Avas their inability to make a sale of the coffee.
We have been able to find in the books no case in which the precise phrase via an intermediate port “for orders” has been under consideration. We may receive some aid, however, by consulting the cases in Avhich the similar phrases “to call,” “to touch,” “to touch and stay,” or “to gnter,” at intermediate ports haA'e been under consideration.
The plaintiffs were known to the defendant, as we may infer, to be extensively engaged in the coffee trade, importing and selling coffee by the cargo. They had under this policy the right to discharge any cargo at either one of three ports.
It is conceded that every unreasonable or unexcused delay in commencing or prosecuting a voyage, whether the delay be in some port or upon the high seas, is a variation of the risk insured, which will discharge the underwriter. In the words of Chief Judge Tindal, in Mount v. Larkins (8 Bing., 108) : “ The voyage, in the commencement or prosecution of which any unreasonable delay takes place, becomes a voyage at a different period of the year, at a more advanced age of the ship, and, in short, a different voyage than if it had boon prosecuted with reasonable and ordinary diligence; the risk is altered from that which was intended by all parties when the policy was effected.” But it is only, however, an unreasonable or unexcuscd delay, that is a voluntary and unnecessary waste of time that will amount to a deviation ;
We cannot say, as matter of law, upon the facts of this case, that the delay was unreasonable. There was a temporary depression in the coffee trade, and the market was dull and unfavorable. The cargo was large, being upwards of 600,000 pounds of coffee ; and the plaintiffs made constant efforts during the delay to find a market for the same. There was no rule or usage of commerce which required them to discharge the cargo and then seek a market. • By so doing, they would have been subjected to the risk either of selling in an unfavorable market or of reshipping the goods. To avoid such risk, they had the right to detain the vessel at Hampton Boads for the brief period, before ordering her to a port of discharge. The delay was not for a purpose unconnected Avith the voyage. It appears to have been in good faith, and it cannot be said that there was any Avaste of time. All marine insurances upon merchant vessels are made with a vícav to the conveniences, needs and exigencies
A reference to a few authorities will fortify more fully the conclusion thus reached. Where there is an insurance upon goods or a vessel from one country to a port of discharge in another country, the assured is not bound to select a port of discharge before reaching the country of his destination. But he may sail into any port there, for the purpose of ascertaining where he can find the best market; and for that purpose he may remain a reasonable time in such port without breach of his policy, and then sail to a port of discharge there selected. In Coolige v. Gray ( 8 Mass., 527 ), the court said : “ That when property is insured to a port of discharge, the assured has a right to obtain advice at his port of arrival respecting the markets, and having informed himself, has a right to proceed to such port as promises the best sales, and is still protected by the policy; not being obliged to discharge his cargo at the first port he makes ; ” and in that case the delay was eight days. To the samé effect is the case of King v. The Middletown Ins. Co. ( 1 Conn., 184 ). In these cases the law is broadly laid down, that when a party is insured to a port of discharge in any country, he has the right to sail into a port of such country, and remain there a reasonable time to inquire into the state of the markets, so as to select a favorable port of discharge and not be obliged to sell in a market already glutted. Under these authorities, if this insurance had been simply to a port of discharge in the United States or to either one of the three places named as a port of discharge, the vessel could have sailed into Hampton Roads and remained there for a reasonable time, to enable the assured to inquire into the state of the markets, and thus select the most favorable port of discharge : (Clark v. The United F. and M. Ins. Co., 7 Mass., 365 ; Lapham v. The Atlas Ins. Co., 24 Pick., 1 .) Have the assured any less right where express permission is given to call at an intermediate port for orders ?
I have thus far not noticed two indorsements made upon this policy after the loss in question, which are claimed to have some bearing upon the construction of the policy. September 28, 1872, this indorsement was made: “It is hereby agreed that in case of detention of any vessel after this date at the place for orders beyond seven days, an extra
The fact that the charter-party was for a voyage to New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore via Hampton Roads for orders, while the insurance was upon a voyage to New York, Baltimore or Boston via Hampton Roads for orders, has no bearing upon this controversy. The assured were not bound, under the charter-party or the policy, to choose the port of discharge until the arrival of the vessel at Hampton Roads. At that port they could, under the charter-party, without violating the policy, choose either New York or Baltimore. A mere intention to go to Philadelphia at any stage of the voyage before reaching Hampton Roads would not have constituted a deviation. To constitute such deviation, the vessel must have entered upon her voyage to the unauthorized port.
It follows from these views that the order must be reversed and judgment affirmed, with costs.
All concur, except Church, Ch. J., and Folger, J., who dissent on the ground that the phrase “via Hampton Roads for orders ” was to be interpreted as giving the privilege to the insured to delay at that roadstead no longer than a reasonable time for the master to receive orders from the insured to which of the three ports named in the policy he
Order reversed and judgment affirmed.