CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE WHEAT PRODUCERS, LTD. v. PATERSON STEAMSHIPS, LTD.

(1934) 49 Ll L Rep 421

JUDICIAL COMMITTEEOF THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

Before Lord Atkin, Lord Tomlin, Lord Macmillan, Lord Wright and Sir Lancelot Sanderson.

Bill of lading-Loss of grain cargo consequent upon stranding of appellants' vessel in Lake Ontario - Claim by cargo-owners against shipowners - Incorporation of Canadian Water-Carriage of Goods Act, 1910-Grain loaded in bulk without shifting boards -Whether absence of shifting boards constituted unseaworthiness-Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, Sect. 452 (1)- Evidence adduced by shipowners that for last 20 years it had been the custom to carry grain cargoes on the Great Lakes without shifting boards- Findings of lower Courts that the ship was unseaworthy in that the grain cargo was loaded in bulk and without shifting boards or other precautions to keep it from shifting, and that the owners had not exercised due diligence to make her seaworthy; that the vessel stranded owing to errors in navigation due to her improper loading, which, owing to his fear that the cargo would shift, had influenced the master in his navigation; and that therefore the cargo-owners were entitled to recover-Appeal by shipowners -Canadian Water-Carriage of Goods Act, Sects. 6, 7-"Actual fault or privity."