No. 586.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Edwardes.
Washington, June 22, 1888.
Sir: I have the honor to bring to the attention of Her Majesty’s Government the case of the American ship Bridgewater, which was seized by the customs authorities at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, on the 27th of July, 1887, and detained in custody until the 15th of the following October, a period of eighty-one days, when she was unconditionally released.
The facts in the case are that the Bridgewater cleared from St. John, New Brunswick, on the 1st of April, 1887, with a cargo of deals for Penarth Roads, Great Britain. On the 5th of the same month, having been disabled by a storm and extensively damaged, she put into Shelburne, Nova Scotia, for repairs, was surveyed and condemned and her cargo discharged.
In the mean time, however, Capt. John H. Allen, the agent for Mary Warren Allen, the owner of the vessel, having arrived, refused to accept the survey of condemnation and advertised the vessel for sale.
On the 8th of June the ship was put up at public sale, but as no bid was made or none that was acceptable she was bid in by Captain Allen as agent of the owner; and having been thus unable to effect a sale of the ship he proceeded to repair her.
The repairs were proceeding and, as is alleged, were nearly completed when, on the 27th of July, the vessel was seized by Collector Atwood, of Shelburne, for non-payment of duty as for goods entered and sold under the Dominion statute 46 Victoria, cap. 12, sections 41 and 60, which read as follows:
- 41. The person entering any goods inwards shall deliver to the collector or other proper officer an invoice of such goods, showing the place and date of purchase, and the name or style of the firm or person from whom the goods were purchased, and a full description thereof in detail, giving the quantity and value of each kind of goods so imported, and a hill of the entry thereof, in such form as shall be appointed by competent authority, fairly written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, and in duplicate, containing the name of the importer, and if imported by water, the name of the vessel and the master, and of the place to which bound and of the place, within the port, where the goods are to be unladen, and the description of the goods, and the marks and numbers and the contents of the packages, and the place from which the goods are imported, and of what country or place such goods are the growth, produce, or manufacture.
- 60. Goods derelict, flotsam, jetsam, or wreck, or landed or saved from any vessel, wrecked, stranded, or lost, brought or coming into Canada shall-be subject to the same duties and regulations as goods of the like kind imported are subject to.
It is unnecessary for me to give a construction to these provisions in order to show that they could have no relation to the case of the [Page 812] Bridgewater, a vessel compelled to enter in distress and undergo repairs by her owners, out of whose hands she had never passed up to the time of her seizure for non-payment of duties, because that such is the clear opinion of the Canadian authorities unmistakeably appears.
Captain Allen formally protested against the seizure of the ship, but without avail until the 16th of September, when the consul of the United States at Shelburne received from the acting minister of customs at Ottawa the following telegram:
Allen can repair and take vessel away. If he requires Canadian register, will have to pay duty.
A. W. McLelan,
Acting Minister of Customs.
On the 22d of September Collector Atwood offered to release the vessel on condition that her owner abandon all claim against the Canadian Government or its officials, for the seizure and detention. This, Captain Allen, acting for the owner, refused to do.
The vessel was not released till the 15th of October, and then unconditionally. No Canadian register was ever applied for or issued, and she sailed from Shelburne under American papers.
The owner has since presented a claim for damages by reason of the wrongful seizure and detention of the ship, amounting to something over $20,000, to the Government at Ottawa, but has failed to secure its recognition; and Captain Allen has been informed by the minister of customs that his principal has no redress in the courts against any of the officers of the Crown.
Should the facts as herein stated be ascertained to be correct (and there appears to be little room for doubt), it is hoped that the justice of the claim now presented will be recognized and proper compensation awarded.
I have not thought it necessary to enter into any elaborate argument in regard to the law of the case, as it appears to be admitted that there was no warrant for the seizure and detention of the Bridgewater under the customs laws of Canada, and since no government has more readily accorded or more consistently contended for the right of vessels in distress to seek shelter and repairs than that of Her Majesty.
I have, etc.,