In Part 1 ([1981] 3 LMCLQ 315) we considered the liability of the receiver or owner of cargo for special charges necessarily incurred by a shipowner, or by the master as his servant, for the preservation or benefit of the goods. In this part we will examine how the shipowner obtains security for the recovery of the charges from the concerned in cargo, in what circumstances cargo interests may decline liability, and finally the extent to which the charges may be recovered from cargo insurers or shipowners’ Protecting and Indemnity clubs.

Under English law the shipowner is invested with a right of lien on the cargo for special charges. This was decided in Hingston v. Wendt,12 which was an action brought by a ship’s agent to recover £41.8s.0d., being the balance due for payments made and services rendered in discharging cargo from the wreck of a ship which went ashore, conveying it to a place of safety and looking after it until the agent of the cargo owner could take delivery. The defendant contended that the cost of discharging the ship was general average, and disputed certain other charges, but he succeeded in obtaining possession of the goods by a promise given by his agent that the plaintiff would be paid his charges. On appeal from the Devon County Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench held that the expenditure incurred to bring the cargo to a place of safety could be recovered if the defendant’s agent had authority to give the promise in consideration for which the goods were released to him. Blackburn, J., delivering the judgment of the court, observed that “the expenditure was not incurred on behalf of the master, as agent of the shipowner performing his contract to carry on the cargo to its destination and earn freight, but was an extraordinary expenditure for the purpose of saving the cargo alone, and which did save the whole cargo”.