Judge Betts was careful to distinguish between such a voyage as that in which the Stephen Hart was engaged and a voyage having ar actual neutral terminus. With regard to the latter and to the vessel before the court, he said:

"If she was, in fact, a neutral vessel, and if her cargo, although contraband of war, was being carried from an English port to Cardenas, for the general purpose of trade and commerce at Cardenas, and for use or sale at Cardenas, without any actual destination of the cargo, prior to the time of the capture, to the use and aid of the enemy, then most certainly both the vessel and her cargo were free from liability of capture."

The sentence of condemnation pronounced by Judge Betts in this case was affirmed by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Chase, who delivered the opinion, observed that the principal features of the case resembled that of the Bermuda and her cargo, but was perhaps even more irreconcilable with neutral good faith. "It is enough to say," declared Chief Justice Chase, "that neutrals who place their vessels under belligerent control, and engage them in belligerent trade, or permit them to be sent with contraband cargoes under cover of false destination to neutral ports, while the real destination is to belligerent ports, impress upon them the character of the belligerent in whose service they are employed, and can not complain if they are seized and condemned as enemy property."

The Stephen Hart (1863) Blatch. Prize Cases, 387; The Hart, 3 Wall. 559.

Judge Betts cited the cases of the Dolphin and the Pearl, supra; Halleck on International Law, chap. 21, sec. 11, p. 504; 1 Kent's Comm., eighth edition, p. 85, note a; 1 Duer on Insurance, 568, section 13; Jecker v. Montgomery, 18 How. 110, 115; 2 Wildman's International Law, 20; The Jonge Pieter, 4 C. Rob. 79; The Richmond, 5 C. Rob. 356; The William, 5 C. Rob. 385; The Nancy, 3 C. Rob. 122; The United States, Stewart's Adm. Rep. 116; The Imina, 3 C. Rob. 167; The Trende Sostre, 6 C. Rob. 390; The Columbia, 1 C. Rob. 154; The Neptunus, 2 C. Rob. 110.

The Gertrude, an English iron screw steamer, 450 tons, was captured off the island of Eleuthera, April 16, 1863, by the U. S. S. Vanderbilt, Baldwin, commanding. In his report to Admiral Wilkes, Commander Baldwin said: “The Gertrude has on board an assorted cargo, including 250 barrels of powder, which stamps her as a contraband trader. No log book can be found as yet." She was caught after a hard chase of 28 miles, during which time a part of her cargo was thrown overboard. She was endeavoring to reach Harbor Island," and showed no colors till three shots had been fired, the last one at her, when she hoisted English colors. She left Nassau on or about the 8th of April," and had since been off the southern coast, but having failed to run the blockade, and having only 36 hours' coal aboard, was on her way back to Nassau when fallen in with. A person was on board, a citizen of Charleston, who was taken to be a

pilot.

(Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Ser. 1. vol. 2, p. 159.) No claim was put in for the vessel and no appeal taken from the sentence of condemnation.

The question discussed in the foregoing cases was first dealt with by the Supreme Court in the case of the steamship Bermuda, which came up on an appeal from a decree of the United States district court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania condemning the vessel and part of her cargo, which were captured by the U. S. S. Mercedita, April 26, 1862, near the British West India island of Abaco.

It was claimed by the captors that the vessel was enemy's property; that it was her intention with her cargo, which was largely composed of munitions of war, to break, either directly or by transshipment, the blockade of the southern coast of the United States, and that both ship and cargo were on these and other grounds liable to capture and condemnation.

The ostensible owner of the ship was one Haigh, a British subject; her original master was one Tessier, a South Carolinian. On the day after her registration, Haigh, as appeared by a document from the Liverpool customs, executed a power of attorney to two persons named Hencle and Trenholm, both of Charleston, South Carolina, to sell the ship at any place out of the Kingdom for any sum they might deem sufficient. Trenholm was a member of the firm of Frazer, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool, a branch of the house of John Frazer & Co., of Charleston, and the fiscal agents of the Confederacy in Great Britain, in which capacity they were largely engaged in fitting out cruisers and blockade runners.

With the registry and power of attorney above mentioned the Bermuda sailed for Charleston, S. C. Subsequently she changed her course and ran the blockade of Savannah, returning to Liverpool in the autumn of the same year. Her master, Tessier, was then transferred to the Bahama, which afterwards became known for carrying the armament of the Confederate cruiser Alabama. In his place, as master of the Bermuda, was installed one Westendorff, who was licensed by the British authorities, on the recommendation of Frazer, Trenholm & Co., as an experienced shipmaster, sailing out of Charleston, who had commanded one of their ships. The name of the firm of Frazer, Trenholm & Co., Liverpool, was indorsed on the back of Westendorff's license as his address.

The Bermuda was now prepared at West Hartlepool for another voyage, ostensibly to Bermuda. The cargo consisted of various things, including tea, coffee, drugs, surgical instruments, shoes, boots,

leather, saddlery, lawns with figures of a youth bearing onward the Confederate flag, military decorations, epaulettes, stars for the shoulder straps of officers of rank, many military articles with designs appropriate for use in the Confederate States, cases of cutlery stamped with the names of merchants in Confederate cities, several cases of double-barreled guns stamped as manufactured for a dealer at Charleston, a large amount of munitions of war, five finished Blakely cannon in cases, with carriages, six cannon without cases, a thousand shells, several hundred barrels of gunpowder, 72,000 cartridges, 2,500,000 percussion caps, 21 cases of swords, and in addition a large quantity of army blankets and other materials. Numerous letters of friendship and business were found on board the vessel, as well as books and newspapers addressed to different persons in the Confederate States, and also a few memoranda, apparently in the nature of requests from persons in Charleston to Capt. Westendorff to buy things for them in England and bring them through the blockade. There were also on board several persons. denominated in various letters as "Government passengers," and in one letter as "printers and engravers," who had been sent from Scotland by an agent of the Confederate government, and who were entered on the crew list of the Bermuda as common sailors. They had with them a large number of boxes containing Confederate postage stamps, copper plates, envelopes, printing ink, and many reams of white bank-note paper watermarked C. S. A. 'There were also on board certain well-known gentlemen, residents of Charleston, who were also entered on the shipping list as common sailors, under disguised names. Of the ship's real company, the master, the first mate, the clerk, and three seamen, were citizens of South Carolina, and the second mate, carpenter, and cook belonged to other Confederate States.

There were 45 bills of lading, of which 41 were for goods shipped by Frazer, Trenholm & Co. The whole cargo was shipped under their direction, and according to the bills of lading was to be delivered at the island of Bermuda "unto order or assigns." No consignees were named. Several persons connected with the ship, who were examined in preparatorio, thought that she belonged to Frazer, Trenholm & Co. A letter of one of the mates, found on board, seemed to indicate the same thing, as also a letter of the former captain, Tessier, to Westendorff.

Much stress was laid by the captors upon the correspondence found on board. It appeared that on January 16, 1862, Frazer, Trenholm & Co., at Liverpool, wrote to John Frazer & Co., at Charleston, that they had dispatched the ship Ella with a cargo to N. T. Butterfield, their agent at Hamilton, Bermuda, and that she would be followed by the steamer Bermuda with goods. On January 23 they wrote again,

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inclosing bills of lading of the cargo of the Ella and copies of invoices. The goods, they said, were all shipped by our friends here; but the disposition of them there is left entirely to you, and in any market to which you may please to direct them. The bills of lading are indorsed to your order, or that of your authorized agent. Captain Carter [of the Ella] is instructed to proceed to Bermuda, and there await your instructions," which were to be sent under cover to Butterfield. By a later letter, of February 28, 1862, addressed to "Messrs. Jno. Frazer & Co. (or their authorized agent), Hamilton, Bermuda," Messrs. Frazer, Trenholm & Co., referring to the invoices and bills of lading of the Bermuda, said they were "very full in every particular, and we think will greatly facilitate the delivery and also the transshipment, should this be determined upon." On April 1, 1862, the Charleston house, having by a previous letter informed Buterfield that they had been advised that the Ella had been dispatched and that she would be followed by the Bermuda, wrote another letter requesting him to direct Captain Westendorff to take certain articles from the Ella and proceed to Nassau, reporting himself on arrival there to H. Adderly & Co., and to request Captain Carter to keep in his cargo and wait further orders from us." This letter was received by Butterfield on the 19th of April and was forwarded the same day to Westendorff, at St. George's. Westendorff immediately acted upon it and sailed on the 23d of April toward Nassau. He had arrived at Bermuda on the 19th of March and had remained there about five weeks, during which the cargo was not touched. The gentlemen from Charleston were aboard.

Among the papers taken on board there was also an unfinished. letter without signature, but apparently written by the engineer of the Bermuda to a friend. This letter was dated at Liverpool, February 16, 1862, and stated that "our tender," a light-draft boat called the Herald, had left the day before with a crew shipped for twelve months" for some port or ports south of Mason and Dixon's line;" that "three captains" were on the tender-“one an Englishman, nominal; another, an experienced coast pilot from the Potomac to Charleston; another, ditto, ditto, from Charleston to the San Juan River in Texas. If the Yankees reach her, they are smarter than I give them credit for. She awaits our arrival in Bermuda; goes first into Charleston, ..

The record disclosed that the captain of the Herald, after his arrival at Bermuda, drew a bill on Frazer, Trenholm & Co., at Liverpool, in favor of Westendorff, showing that the latter had advanced a certain amount of money to the Herald. It was also testified by a person on the Bermuda that the Herald was connected with the former ship.

At the time of the capture, and after the vessel was boarded, the captain's brother, by his order, threw overboard two small boxes and a package, which he swore he understood contained postage stamps, and a bag, which he understood contained letters, and which he was instructed to destroy in case of capture. One of the gentlemen from Charleston also destroyed a number of letters, which he swore were private letters, intrusted to him by Americans in Europe.

On the part of the claimants it was contended—

1. That the vessel was captured within British territorial waters. 2. That both the vessel and the cargo were owned by neutrals, and that their destination was either Bermuda or Nassau, a neutral port. 3. That there was no intent to run the blockade; that the ship, after arriving at Bermuda, was instructed to proceed to Nassau in order that her cargo might be landed and another cargo be taken on board for some port in Europe; that it was the intention of the consignees at Nassau, who were correspondents of Frazer, Trenholm & Co., to carry out these instructions strictly; that a part of the munitions of war were intended for the Government of Hayti, and the rest for sale at Bermuda or Nassau, in the usual course of business, to any person willing to purchase the same."

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4. That the fact that the ship was not intended to run the blockade was shown by the circumstance that the "government passengers," though they all undoubtedly wished to enter the Confederate States, all disembarked at Bermuda and did not rejoin the vessel when she sailed to Nassau.

5. That there was no concealment as to anything on board; that everything was fairly entered on the bills of lading and manifest; and that the crew were shipped for a term not exceeding twelve months from Liverpool to Bermuda, and thence, if required, to any ports or places in the West Indies, British North America, the United States, and back to the United Kingdom; and that their wages did not exceed that of ordinary voyages in peaceful times.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Chief Justice Chase, and was unanimous.

The court held that all the circumstances, including that of the spoliation of papers, which was one of unusual aggravation, warranted the most unfavorable inference as to ownership, employment, and destination; that all the transactions repelled the conclusion that Haigh was the true owner; that not a document taken on the ship showed ownership in him except the shipping articles, which were false in putting upon the crew list employees of the Confederate Government and enemy passengers; that there was no indication that, after Haigh gave the power of attorney, he performed a single act of ownership; that no letter alluded to him as owner, and no

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