The Florence

BENEDICT, District Judge.

This proceeding cannot be deemed other than an act of gross misconduct on the part of the libellant. He was not an ignorant sailor, but an jntelli-' gent chief mate. He was at the time in sole charge of the vessel, and in the position of a trustee. He is presumed to know, and must, in fact, have known, that the law gave him a perfect security, for any sum justly due to him, and that the court of admiralty stands always open to adjudicate upon such demands with promptness, and in the libera] spirit of the maritime law, and he deliberately undertook to decide for…