189), where a shipowner had incurred
expenses which would have been the subject of G.A. contributions, but that
he alone was interested in the voyage. There were no contributories. He
claimed from the insurers of the ship what would have been the ship's G.A.
contribution had there been other persons to contribute in respect of
freight or cargo. The claim was disallowed on the ground that there could
be no G.A. in such circumstances, and therefore no basis for a claim
against the insurer. The liability of the insurer was thus made to depend,
not upon the character of the loss, but upon the fact or possibility of
contribution. But this was not followed in _Montgomery_ v. _Indemnity
Mutual M. I. Co._ (1901, 1 K.B. 147). There ship, freight and cargo all
belonged to the same person. He had insured the cargo but not the ship. The
cargo underwriters were held liable to pay a contribution to damage done to
the ship by cutting away masts for the general safety. The loss was in
theory spread over all the interests at risk, and they had undertaken to
bear the cargo's share of such losses. Their liability did not depend upon
the accident of whether the interests all belonged to one person or not.
This agrees with the view taken in the United States.

As to _Particular Average_, see under INSURANCE: _Marine_.

AUTHORITIES.--Lowndes on _General Average_ (4th ed., London, 1888);
Abbott's _Merchant Ships and Seamen_ (14th ed., London, 1901); Arnould's
_Marine Insurance_ (7th ed., London, 1901); Carver's _Carriage by Sea_ (4th
ed., London, 1905).

(T. G. C.)

[1] Per Bowen, L.J., in _Svensden_ v. _Wallace_, 1883, 13 Q.B.D. at p. 84.

AVERNUS, a lake of Campania, Italy, about 1 1/2 m. N. of Baiae. It is an
old volcanic crater, nearly 2 m. in circumference, now, as in Roman times,
filled with water. Its depth is 213 ft., and its height above sea-level 3
1/2 ft.; it has no natural outlet. In ancient times it was surrounded by
dense forests, and was the centre of many legends. It was represented as
the entrance by which both Odysseus and Aeneas descended to the infernal
regions, and as the abode of the Cimmerii. Its Greek name, [Greek: Aornos],
was explained to mean that no bird could fly across it. Hannibal made a
pilgrimage to it in 214 B.C. Agrippa in 37 B.C. converted it into a naval
harbour, the _Portus Iulius_; joining it to the Lacus Lucrinus by a canal,
and connecting the latter with the sea, he reduced the distance to Cumae by