THE THAMES.

District Court, S. D. New York.

December 23, 1881.

1. MARITIME LIEN—SERVICES IN PROCURING CHARTER.

A shipping broker has no lien on a vessel, in admiralty, for services in procuring a charter-party.

In Admiralty.

F. A. Wilcox, for libellants, cited 5 Ben. 63, 70, 71; 2 FED. REP. 722; 4 Ben. 864; 8 Chi. Leg. News, 401; 3 N. Y. Wkly. Dig. 425; 2 Low. 482; 17 Wall. 666; 1 Dill. 460; 2 Low. 173; 5 Ben. 74, 78.

Michael H. Cardozo, for claimant, cited 1 Abb. Adm. 340, 490; Etting, Adm. 69, 74; 2 Olcott, 120; 3 Mason, 6; 3 Sumn. 144.

(On general subject of maritime liens, see 21 Am. Law Reg. 1, 82; 16 Am. Law Rev. 193.—[REP.

BROWN, D. J. I am not prepared to assert jurisdiction in admiralty in this case. In the case of The Riga, L. R. 3 Ad. & Eccl. 516, the ultimate determination is not reported, and the question depended wholly upon the statute, (3 & 4 Vict.) In this country such jurisdiction has never been asserted. In The Gustavia, Bl. & H. 189, shipping a crew was held like furnishing necessary supplies for a voyage. The distinction between preliminary services leading to a maritime contract and such contracts themselves have been affirmed in this country from the first, and not yet departed from. It furnishes a distinction capable of somewhat easy application. If it be broken down, I do not perceive any other dividing line for excluding from the admiralty many other sorts of claims which have a reference, more or less near or remote, to navigation and commerce. If the broker of a charter-party be admitted, the insurance broker must follow,—the drayman, the expressman, and all others who perform services having reference to a voyage either in contemplation or executed.

In Merchant v. Lulan, upon a similar case, the libel was dismissed on execution (as I find on examination) on February 22, 1879, by Benedict, J., in the eastern district, and the same decision must be made here.

Libel dismissed, with costs.

See Ferris v. The Bark E. D. Jewett, 2 FED. REP. 111.

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