## Facts

- Shipowners sought general average contribution from cargo owners after the ship *Brutus* was intentionally stranded to avoid a more dangerous wreck.
- On October 8, 1843, the *Brutus* lay at anchor in the outer roads off Buenos Ayres when a severe storm created an imminent risk of being driven onto a rocky coast with probable total loss of ship, cargo, and crew.
- To avoid that danger, the master slipped the cables and voluntarily stranded the vessel on a comparatively safer part of the coast.
- The ship was lost, but the cargo and crew were saved uninjured.
- The cargo was removed from the stranded ship, transshipped to another vessel, and the voyage continued to the home port where the cargo arrived.
- The shipowners claimed general average for (1) the loss of the ship as a sacrifice for common safety, (2) crew wages earned after stranding while saving cargo, and (3) a 2.5% commission for collecting the general average.
- The cargo owners disputed whether the stranding qualified as a general average act, the proper basis for valuing cargo for contribution, and whether wages and the commission were allowable general average items.

## Issues

1. Whether intentional stranding on a safer shore to avoid an otherwise inevitable wreck on a more dangerous coast is a general average act permitting contribution for the loss of the vessel.
2. Whether saved cargo that is transshipped and delivered should contribute based on its value at the place of stranding or at the port of destination.
3. Whether crew wages earned after the stranding while engaged in saving cargo are allowable in general average.
4. Whether a 2.5% commission for collecting general average is properly allowed.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for the shipowners.
- The Court held that the voluntary stranding, undertaken to avert imminent total loss on a more dangerous shore and resulting in the saving of cargo and crew, supported general average contribution for the loss of the vessel.
- The Court held that where the cargo is transshipped and the voyage is completed, contribution is assessed on the cargo’s value at the home port.
- The Court allowed crew wages accruing after stranding while the crew was employed in saving the cargo as a general average charge.
- The Court upheld the 2.5% collection commission as supported by mercantile usage and the practice of merchants and average brokers.

## Legal Principles

- General average permits contribution when a deliberate sacrifice or expenditure is made for the common safety to avert a peril threatening the whole maritime adventure.
- An intentional stranding can constitute a general average sacrifice even if some stranding was likely, when the master chooses a course that avoids a more dangerous, otherwise inevitable total loss and thereby saves cargo and crew.
- When cargo is saved, transshipped, and carried to destination, its contributory value for general average is determined at the port of destination rather than at the place of casualty.
- Wages and similar expenses incurred after a casualty, when tied to efforts to preserve the common interests (such as saving cargo), may be included as general average.
- Customary and reasonable costs of preparing and collecting a general average adjustment, including a merchant-usage commission, may be allowed.

## Conclusion

The Court sustained a general average recovery where the master intentionally stranded a vessel to avoid imminent total wreck, required cargo to contribute based on destination value after transshipment and completion of the voyage, and approved inclusion of post-stranding crew wages and a customary collection commission in the general average adjustment.


Barnard v. Adams, 51 U.S. (10 How.) 270 (1850)