GENERAL

AND PARTICULAR AVERAGE.

In the following statement the remote cause of a claim for general contribution arose out of an accident, but the direct cause was the necessity of having assistance, and of putting into Cowes for general preservation.

In making it out, the amounts and causes of all disbursements are first set down; the distribution is then thus made the pilotage inwards, half the surveyor's fee, the protesting charges, the award to boats' crews, the anchorage and harbour dues, the charge for certificate and bill of health, and the petty expenses are made general. The ship is charged with the other half of the surveyor's fee, and those expenses which attended the repair, such as those of the sailmaker, smiths, and shipwright, and of which a portion is to be borne by the owners for the improved state of the articles, are at first put into a separate column; then when the amount has been ascertained, two-thirds of it are placed to the account of the ship, to be recovered of the assurers upon the ship, and the other one-third is placed to the account of the owners, together, for the same cause, with part of the bill for smith's work. The pilotage outwards and the bill of health belong to the freight.

The amount of the general average is then distributed. The deterioration occasioned by the accident is taken from the value of the ship, and the general average on the remainder being added to the claim on

the underwriters for particular average, on account of the ship, forms the amount of the whole claim on this account. In like manner and for like purpose, the contribution on the freight is added to the particular average on the same, but the contribution on the cargo is without such adjustment, as indeed there is here no statement of particular average on the cargo.

It is very common for the average stater to specify the amount which each shipper has to contribute; as

But this is sometimes done by the ship's broker, who collects the amounts and repays the disbursements.

A CAPTAIN'S PROTEST OR A SHIP'S PROTEST.

On resorting to any act of sacrifice, or on a ship or her cargo suffering any extraordinary damage, a captain must enter in his log-book a full account of what transpired, and on touching land, whether it be at any intermediate port, or on the termination of a voyage, he must within twenty-four hours after landing, and while the causes and circumstances are considered to be fresh in his memory, note a protest before a notary or a public magistrate, if at home, or before the Consul if abroad, and should he require further advice or assistance he should put himself in communication with Lloyd's agent, one of whom he is almost sure to find at any port of importance, as the acts of these officials are generally respected by the insurance companies, as well as by Lloyd's.

The captain's protest is a document wherein he sets forth the full particulars of the circumstances which led to the collision, disaster, the act of sacrifice, or the running into port in distress, and is the principal document requisite in the settlement of all questions relating to average, and of all matters relative to any loss or damage to shipping.

As a protest must be begun within twenty-four hours after the captain's arrival in port, it is now a very common practice with them to simply note a protest on the termination of every voyage to protect themselves in case any claim for damage should arise, leaving the formal document to be drawn up, or, as it is called, extended, later on if necessary.

The following will serve as a guide as to the manner in which a protest is drawn out by a notary, the case being supposed to be a collision.