Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/191

VON LINGEN V. iJAVIDSON. 183 �ianguage of the instrument, and that, when the meaning of the language is not clear, the court is to construe it in the light of the oiroum stances surrounding the parties when the con- traet was made. �With regard to the facts of thia case, although it does not appear distinctly in the testimony, it was stated in argument, and seems to be a conceded and generally known fact, that Benizaf is a loading place on the coast of Morocco, about 24 hours, by steamer, from Gibraltar, from whence is shipped iron ore, It is not a port or harbor, but simply a convenient loading place for shipping the iron ore mined in that vicinity. It is not unfair, therefore, to presume that any one contract- ing with regard to a vessel at Benizaf knew for what purpose she was there, and the nature of the cargo she was there to take in; and when Schumacher <fe Go. negotiated and con- tracted with regard to a steamer about to sail from Benizaf with cargo, they must be presumed to have kriown that she was there taking in a cargo of iron ore, in the usual manner in which cargo is taken in at that place. ' �There is no proof of any usage among ship-owners and •charterers by which any peeuliar meaning is given to the words used in the charter. There is no proof, indeed, as to what period of time the charterers themselves, when making the contract, thought the words "about to sail" should cover. �For the purposes of this contract I think the court must take the words themselves, and determine their meaning with reference to suçh a vessel as the "Whickham," when at Beni- zaf, under the circumstances as known to both parties. �The words "about to sail" had reference primarily to the steamer's leaving Benizaf, and indirectly only to the time of her arriving in Philadelphia; and it is to the circumstances surrounding her at Benizaf that we are to look for light, and not to the expectations of the charterers as to her arrivai at Philadelphia. The words used in the contract were the worda -which it was known to ail the parties the agent of the own- «rs was authorized by them to use, and it is plain that the necessity of the charterers to have the steamer in time for the ��� �