seaman is put ashore.1 The restriction of actions for wages in the High Court to sums exceeding £150 by a liability to be condemned in costs under the provisions of the County Courts Act, 1868,2 has now been taken away by the operation of the Rules under the Judicature Acts.3

An action for wages in the Admiralty Division must be commenced within six years after the cause of action has accrued, unless the suitor is under some disability.*

1 M. S. A. 1854, s. 189; The Blakeney, 5 Jur. N. S. 418.
31 & 32 Vict. c. 71, ss. 3 & 9.

3 See ante, p. 15.

4 4 Anne, c. 16, ss. 17, 18, 19.

CHAPTER V.

NECESSARIES.

ALTHOUGH from time to time the Court of Admiralty tion of the claimed a jurisdiction over actions for necessaries, it was

Court.

What are

decided once for all in 18351 that it did not possess it.
Its jurisdiction, therefore, now rests solely upon the pro-
visions of two statutes. These are as follows: "The High
Court of Admiralty shall have jurisdiction to decide all
claims and demands whatsoever
.for necessaries
supplied to any foreign ship or sea-going vessel, and to
enforce payment thereof whether such ship or vessel may
have been within the body of a county or upon the high
seas when the necessaries were furnished in respect of which
such claim was made."2 "The High Court of Admiralty
shall have jurisdiction over any claim for building, equip-
ping, or repairing of any ship, if at the time of the institu-
tion of the cause the ship or the proceeds thereof are
under the arrest of the Court

and over any claim for necessaries supplied to any
ship elsewhere than in the port to which the ship belongs,
unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that at
the time of the institution of the cause any owner or part
owner of the ship is domiciled in England or Wales."
The definition of the word necessaries has been judicially

1 The Neptune, 3 Knapp, P. C. 94.

2 3 & 4 Vict. c. 65, s. 6.

3 A. C. A. 1861, ss. 4 and 5.

saries.

given as "all things fit and proper for the service in which neces a vessel is engaged, whatever the owner of that vessel as a prudent man would order if present at the time;"1 though primarily meaning indispensable repairs, anchors, cables, sails, or provisions, the term has now, it is clear, a wider signification. There is no distinction between necessaries for the ship and necessaries for the voyage, and all things reasonably requisite for the particular adventure on which the ship is bound are comprised in this category. And money advanced to pay for necessaries, whether in cash or by bill, gives the lender the same rights as if he had actually supplied the necessary articles themselves.1

The claim is valid even if the necessaries have been supplied on the personal credit of the master.5 But it is important to bear in mind that as the liability of the owner depends not upon his ownership of the vessel, but upon a contract made with the supplier by the master, who is the agent of the owner, the master must, to make the owner liable, have either an actual authority from him, or have been held out by him as his master, so that the claimant has been induced to supply the necessaries on the credit of the owner.6

The following claims have been judicially decided to be valid in actions for necessaries, viz. claims in respect of anchors, cables, rigging and things ejusdem generis, coals, provisions, clothing,10 slops for the crew,11 screw propeller, 12

1 Webster v. Seekamp, 4 B. & Ald. 352.

8

The Sophie, 1 W. Rob. 368; The Comtesse de Fregeville, Lush. 329. 3 The Riga, L. R. 3 Ad. 516; 41 L. J. Ad. 39.

4 The Onni, Lush. 154; The Riga, supra; The Anna, L. R. 1 P. D. 253; 45 L. J. Ad. 98.

5 The Onni, Lush. 154; The Anna, L. R. 1 Ad. 253; 45 L. J.

Ad. 98.

6 The Great Eastern, L. R. 2 Ad. 88; 3 Asp. M. C. 58.

7 The Sophie, 1 W. Rob. 368.

8 The West Friesland, Swa. 454.

The N. R. Gosfabrik, Swa. 334.

10 The W. F. Safford, Lush. 69.

11 The Feronia, L. R. 2 Ad. 65; 37 L. J. Ad. 60. 12 The Hecla, 1 Spk. 441.

Prelimi

naries to liability.

5

coppering,' premium of insurance of freight,2 money supplied to pay a shipwright's bill, and dock dues.* On the other hand, the Court has dismissed claims for money advanced to a master to pay averages, and a bottomry bond® and the travelling expenses of a third person to aid a master in a collision action; and it will also not assist an applicant unless the necessaries in respect of which the action is brought are particularized.

10

To render a ship liable in an action she must further be either a foreign ship the owner of which may or may not be temporarily in the same port, or a British ship the owner of which is not domiciled in this country, which fact to be a good defence must be proved before judgment, since, if it is subsequently brought to the knowledge of the Court, it will not reverse its previous decree."1 The necessaries must not have been supplied to a foreign ship in a foreign port;12 but it is now settled law that this rule does not exclude claims for necessaries supplied at a British colonial port.13 In the case of a British ship they must not have been furnished in the port to which she belongs.14

The fact that the claimant is the agent of a foreign ship

1 The Turliani, 32 L. T. N. S. 841; 2 Mar. L. C. N. S. 603.
"The Riga, L. R. 3 Ad. 516; 41 L. J. Ad. 39.

3 The Albert Crosby, L. R. 3 Ad. 37.

4 The St. Lawrence, L. R. 5 P. D. 250; 49 L. J. Ad. D. 82.

7 The Bonne Amelie, L. R. 1 Ad. 19; 35 L. J. Ad. 115.

8 The Riga, supra.

9 It has been held that a ship beneficially owned by foreigners, but carrying a British flag and registered as a British vessel when the necessaries were supplied, is a foreign ship: The Princess Charlotte, Br. & L. 75.

10 The Pacific, Br. & L. 243.

11 Ex parte Michael, L. R. 7 Q. B. 658; 41 L. J. Q. B. 349.

12 The India, 32 L. J. Ad. 185.

13 The Wataga, Swa. 165; The Anna, 45 L. J. Ad. 98; L. R. 1 P. D. 253; 46 L. J. Ad. 15 (C. A.).

14 A. C. A. 1861, s. 5.

in a British port does not prevent him from bringing an action against such ship, either for necessaries or for money paid by him to those who have supplied necessaries. But, if the amount sought to be recovered is a mere balance of a general account between principal and agent, the claim as one for necessaries is inadmissible. A co-owner is in the same position as a stranger, if he is not interested in the results of the particular voyage when the necessaries were supplied.1

Persons who have supplied a foreign ship with Liens. necessaries have a maritime lien upon her from the moment that the articles are supplied; but, under the Act of 1861, there is no such lien on a British ship, and the vessel does not become chargeable with the debt till the suit is actually instituted; consequently there can be no claim against a ship which has been sold, even with notice of such a claim in respect of which an action has not been commenced, and a want of caution in supplying the necessaries may, it would seem, cause a postponement of claims to others more carefully begun.1

A bond fide transfer, however, of a foreign ship against which there is an outstanding claim for necessaries to a British owner does not destroy the existing lien," which is equally valid after a transfer of a foreign ship to a British owner, and subsequent to the commencement of an action in respect of the necessaries. It is also a point of some importance that when there exists a valid claim for necessaries, and a bottomry bond on the ship

1 The Underwriter, 25 L. T. N. S. 279; 1 Asp. M. C. N. S. 127. The Ella A. Clerk, Br. & L. 32; 32 L. J. Aà. 211.

3 The Pacific, Br. & L. 243; The Troubadour, L. R. 1 Ad. 302; The Two Ellens, L. R. 4 P. C. 160; 41 L. J. Ad. 33.

The Aneroid, L. R. 2 Ad. D. 189; 47 L. J. Ad. 15.

5 The Panthea, 1 Asp. M. C. N. S. 133; 25 L. T. N. S. 289.

6 The Ella A. Clerk, sup.; The Princess Charlotte, Br. & L. 75; 33 L. J. Ad. 188.