Shea v. United States 29 Ct. Cl. 552

DANIEL SHEA v. THE UNITED STATES.

[U. S. R.;

26 C. Cls. R., 17.]

On the defendants’ Appeal.

The claimant under a written contract furnished to the defendants a vessel, the defendants paying $67 a day. While under their exclusive control she collides and is rendered temporarily unfit for service. The claimant furnished another vessel, for which he pays $55 a day. The defendants refuse to pay him more. He now claims the contract price for the time when his vessel was undergoing repairs.

The court below decides:

1. Where the action is upon a charter party to recover the contract price for a period during which a vessel was undergoing repairs rendered necessary by a collision, it is not one sounding4 in tort, nolis the claim one for demurrage.

2. A charter party is not required to be in any technical form, nor even in writing, and it may be proved, in whatever way it has been made.

3. Where a vessel is to be under the exclusive control and management of the charterers, they become owners for the time and responsible for casualties then occurring.

4. Though the owners agree to repair a vessel in case of accident, the charterers must pay the contract price for the time so consumed, if they were in possession and control of the vessel at the time of , the accident.

*5535. Where a vessel is injured -while under the control of the charterers and the owners substitute another vessel, they may recover the stipulated wages of their own vessel without reference to the wages paid by them for the substitute.

The decision of the court below is affirmed on the same grounds.