Volume Eleven - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - some more aspects - A Dispute at Yokohama -  1889 . . .

This was also then covered up with mats, and on that the 10 tons of coal for the ship's use was placed. The evidence would show that the ship proceeded on her voyage to Yokohama without touching anywhere; she did not meet with bad weather and arrived at Yokohama in due course. On arrival the cargo was in exactly the same condition as it was when shipped on board.

He would show that in the harbour here the plaintiff applied the test which had already been applied in Penarth Dock to the vessel. He took the draught of the vessel, which was then 19 feet 4 in. or 13 in. less than it was when she was in Penarth Dock. Applying that test to the displacement scale, the displacement would show that there were about 20 tons of dead weight less on board the ship than when she left the Penarth Dock, and the evidence would show that during the voyage some 20 tons of stores had been used - 10 tons of water, 5 tons of stores, and 5 tons of something else.

Therefore he thought it would follow from that evidence that the whole of the coal and coke put on board arrived here in Yokohama, and he would show that the whole of the coke and coal on board when the ship arrived here was delivered to the defendants. Under those circumstances he would contend that the plaintiff was entitled to the balance of freight payable on delivery of the cargo here.

It would be for the other side, which contended that the whole of the cargo was not delivered, to show that it was not delivered. He might mention that although an agreement was entered into that there should be an allowance of 1 per cent. to represent the shortage of coal, the defendants told the plaintiff that they had had the coal weighed and there was a shortage of no less than 135 tons of coal. That seemed to him an enormous percentage, a little more than 8 per cent., while the shortage of coke represented a little under 7 per cent.

If those figures were correct that was an enormous shortage of both coal and coke, and counsel said he was not in a position to account for it in any other way than by the suggestion that there was some error in the weighing of the coke out of the ship.

There was no complaint by the Custom House against the ship as to having discharged coal or coke out of hours; the only coal and coke on board must have been delivered to the defendants.