Edward P. Blake v. United States of America, Odell M. Blake v. United States of America, Eldridge Cook v. United States

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree of the District Court dismissing three consolidated libels filed in admiralty against the United States to recover compensation for the taking of certain oyster grounds of the libellants located in the bed of the lower York River in Virginia, which is said to have occurred when the Government established a Naval Mine Sweeping Practice Area in the vicinity.

Libellants became lessees of oyster grounds situated in the York River in the vicinity of Yorktown in 1946 and 1948 under leases from the State of Virginia which were duly recorded under…