rim L. L. LAMB. _ 29
A Tm; L. L. LAMB. A
(District Oourt, E'. D. Michigan. June 1, 1887.)
1. Sm.aMnn's Wsens-Linn on Sun--Conrnscr wrru CHARTERER—WAIVER.
Where the vessel was chartered for a wrecking expedition, to be accom-
anied by the owner and master, but the crew to be paid by the charterers;
held, that the lien on the ship was not waived by the seamen because they
iknew of the contract with t e charterers and hired to them. It requires
some express agreement by the seamen to serve on the personal credit of the
charterer, or else a state of facts from which that intention must neces-
y sarily be implied.
2. SAMm—CoNomALMnNr or Fscrs mr Mxsrran on Ownnn.
If the master and owner know that the charterers are insolvent and do not
disclose that fact to the seamen at the time of engaging them for the char-
_ terers, the concealment is a fraud upon them, and any agreement to release
the lien on the ship would be disregarded by the court.
In Admiralty. ‘ .
Chas; K. Dodge and Edward McNamara., for libelant.
Q Howard Wwst, for claimant. .
HAMMo1~u>, J. John Buzzard was owner and master of the schooner
L. L. Lamb, and the libelants were for several months prior to the dis-
puted transactions involved in this suit the crew of that vessel. He
chartered her to McMorran & Reynolds at $15 a day from the eighth day
of June, 11886, for a wrecking expedition to Lake Superior; they "to
furnish provision and men, (except the master and mate,) all wrecking
gear, pay all tow~bills and wages, except master’s and mate’s, repair all
damage they may do except natural wear and tear and excepting her _
being wrecked or disabled/’ The schooner went to the lake to work
upon a sunken steamer accompanied by a tug, Buzzard going as master
. and hisison as mate. There were some 20 or 25 Amen employed by the
charterers to go upon this expedition, some of them being seamen and
others not. She was gone about three months, and was employed in
taking out railroad iron, or lying by to receive it from a lighter, some-
times sailing out to the wreck and sometimes remaining in the port near
by, during which not much was done in the line of a seaman’s duty ex-
cept to take care of the vessel, wet her down, keep her sails in condition,
scrape masts, etc. On the return of the schooner the three libelants ar-
rested her upon this libel for wages at $1.25 per day for each of them.
According to Buzzard’s contention and proof he paid off these three men,
who hadvbeen his crew for some months, on the day of the charter-party,
and they then hired to the "wrecking party," as the other men did, and
were to look to that concern for theirwages and not to him. According
to the contention and proof of the libelants they were hired as seamen V
and were continued as the crewof the schooner by Buzzard himself, but
were-also to help the wreckers in their work, which they did. It seems
·from· the proof that the " wrecking expedition" was a venture of two in-
solvent persons named Merriman and Fowler, who were without credit,