Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/779

ALLEN V. 3,183 BU8HELS OF POTATOES. 765 �inal shippers, to whom they had made advances upon the faitli of the bill of ladiBg of the Porter. It was understood that the receipt of the potatoes by Perkins & Job should not prejudice their rights, and that the delivery of the potatoes to them should not aiiect any lien to wbich the potatoes might be subject. This action was then commenced by the master of the Porter to enforce a lien which he claimed to have upon the potatoes. �The libel does not olearly show what the precise daim of the libel- lant is ; but plainly the action does not proceed upon the ground that there is any claim for pro rata freight. The demand, as stated upon the argument, is for the difference between the $500 freight paid the Altevilia and the freight provided for in the bill of lading of the Porter, $40 for 10 days' detention of the Porter at the port of ■ lading, together with the sum of $488.18 paid by the libellant for duties on the potatoes in the state of Maine. Two questions have been in this way presented for determination, namely: Did the master of the Porter have a lien upon the potatoes transported to New York by the Altevilia for the freight and demurrage provided for in the bill of lading of the Porter ? and, secondly, did the master of the Porter have a lien upon the potatoes transported by the Altevilia for duties upon the potatoes paid by him in the state of Maine ? Upon both these questions my opinion is adverse' to the libellant, When the Porter stranded on the coast of Maine the cireumstances were such as to justify the master in selling the potatoes;, He did sell them at pub- lie auction, and tho- faimess of the transaction bas not been ques- tioned. The sale was completed, and the potatoes were delivered to the buyers, who entered them at the custom-house and paid the duties due upon such entry. That sale terminated the existing con- tract of affreightment. After the potatoes had been thus sold and entered at the custom-house it was not within the power of the master to revive the original contract, and by regaining possession of the potatoes, and shipping them upon the Altevilia, to entitle himself to claim the freight agreed to be paid upon the delivery of her cargo by the Porter. No legal transhipment of cargo was effected. When the potatoes were shipped on board the Altevilia the relation between the master of the Porter and the potatoes, created by the shipment on the Porter, no longer existed. The potatoes were no longer the cargo of the Porter. They had not only passed from the possession of the master of the Porter, but their character had been changed by an entry at the custom-house. They had become imported goods, subjected to new relations, and perhaps to new liabilities. A new ��� �