MAY A CAPTAIN SINK A SHIP?

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 24 July 1901, Page 4

MAY A CAPTAIN SINK A SHIP?

The right of a captain to attempt to sink a derelict has just been settled in the Court of Appeal at Ghent. The British barque Bothnia, of Liverpool, at the end of 1897, loaded a cargo of guano at Peru for Ghent. During the passage the vessel was dismasted, the ventilators were carried away, and three of the crew wore killed. It was decided to abandon tho ship, but before doing so tho master gave orders (or tho removal of tho coverings, which bad been placed over the apertures where the masts and ventilators stood, his moivc being that the totally disabled ship should sink and not become a menace o.j navigation. Tho captain and crow were picked up, and tho Bothnia was not ost, but was eventually towed to Ghent, ft was found that the cargo had been damaged, and tho consignees thereupon instituted a claim for damages. This was rejected, and on appeal it found that the master of tho Bothnia was under tho circumstances, justified in what ho did, both legally and morally; that the law of nations recognised the legality of tho destruction of derelicts, and many Governments even take special measures for getting rid of them; and an act recognised as legitimate in itself cannot change its nature when performed by tho master of a merchant ship, instead of by tho commander of a war vessel. Accordingly the captain of the Bothnia not only had the right to sink his ship when reduced to the condition of a derelict, but it was also his duty to do so, and tho fact that the means adopted by him for carrying out his intention did not succeed in no way altered his position with regard to the consignees of the cargo. Seeing that he was not answerable to the consignees for what he had done, the shipowners were free from liability also.