Coffin v. Jenkins
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
[Appeal from the district court of the United States for the district of Massachusetts.] Libel in the admiralty for the lay or share of the libellant, the second mate of the whaling ship Columbus, against the respondent [Peter Coffin], the master of the ship.
Read the full summary
[Appeal from the district court of the United States for the district of Massachusetts.] Libel in the admiralty for the lay or share of the libellant, the second mate of the whaling ship Columbus, against the respondent [Peter Coffin], the master of the ship. The libel in substance stated, that in June, 1S35, the libellant, John Jenkins, shipped on board the ship Columbus, of Nantucket, of which the respondent was master, on a whaling voyage from Nantucket to the Pacific ocean, as second mate, for a certain lay or share of the said voyage and of the oil which might be obtained; that be signed…
1Opinion of the Court
STORY, Circuit Justice.
This cause has been argued at great length; but after all, it turns upon a single inquiry, and that is, whether there has been a desertion on the part *1190of the libellant, during the whaling voyage, by which he has, according to the principles of the maritime law, forfeited his right to his lay or share in the proceeds and catchings of the voyage. This lay or share does not, according to law, create any partnership in the profits of the voyage, as has been sometimes erroneously supposed; but it is in "the nature of wages for seamen in the common merchants service, and is…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Rice v. AustinMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1821
3Cited by10 opinions
- United States v. LaflinCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1928
- Lewis v. TrantCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1894
- The MabeySupreme Court of the United States · 1870
- Chapline, Lewis & Co. v. Conant & WheatWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1869
- Insurance Co. of North America v. VenezuelaCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1892
5 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.