Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/684

This page needs to be proofread.

670 FKDEBAIi BEFOBTEK. �ehe same time a lien upon the ship. The ship is as mucli bound for the payment of the wages as is the freight. The seamen may resort to either fund in the first instance, and, that prov- lig insufficient, they may resort to the other; or, as here, hey may proceed against both at the same time. When, liowever, they do proceed against both, and, as here, either proves sufiBcient, the court has the undoubted right to con- trol the method of satisfying their decrees. And when there are two creditors whose equities are equal, one of whom is entitled to the surplus of the freight and the other to the sur- plus prooeeds of the ship, the only equitable method is to direct that the wages be charged against both funds pro rata. That is to say, that out of the freight shall be paid the master and crews, upon their decrees, a sum bearing the same propor- tion to the whole amount of the wages as the amount of the freight bears to the balance of the proceeds of the ship in the registry, and that the remainder of the wages shall be paid out of the proceeds of the ship. The freight moneys in court after suoh deduction may then be paid to Moran, upon his filing his petition therefor, and the prooeeds of the ship re- maining after such deduction may then be paid to the Bank of Nova Scotia, upon the present petition. ����