he case supposed, that the cargo will be benefited by this procedure.
The general principle is, that the master must act for the cargo, with a
reasonable view to the interests of its proprietors, under the whole
circumstances of the case. When he does this his proceedings will be
sustained; but should he manifestly prejudice the interests of the cargo
by including it under bottomry for the mere purpose of relieving the
ship, or of earning the freight, the owners of the cargo will not be
bound by the bottomry contract. Any bottomry or respondentia bond may be
good in part or bad in part, according as the master may have acted
_within_ or _beyond_ the scope of his legitimate authority in granting
it. If two or more bottomry bonds have been granted at different stages
of the voyage, and the value of the property be insufficient to
discharge them all, the last-dated bond has the priority of payment, as
having furnished the means of preserving the ship, and thereby
preventing the total loss of the security for the previous bonds.

When the sum due under a bottomry bond over ship, freight and cargo is
not paid at the stipulated time, proceedings may be taken by the
bondholder for recovery of the freight and for the sale of the ship; and
should the proceeds of these be insufficient to discharge the claim, a
judicial sale of the cargo may be resorted to. As a general rule the
value of the ship and freight must be exhausted before recourse can be
taken against the cargo. A bottomry bond gives no remedy to the lenders
against the owners of the ship or cargo personally. The whole liability
under it may be met by the surrender of the property pledged, whether
the value so surrendered covers the amount of the bond or not. But the
owners of the ship, though not liable to the bondholder for more than
the value of the ship and freight, may be further liable to the
proprietors of the cargo for any sum in excess of the cargo's proper
share of the expenses, taken by the bondholder out of the proceeds of
the cargo to satisfy the bond after the ship and freight have been
exhausted.

The bottomry premium must be ultimately paid by the parties for whose
benefit the advances were obtained, as ascertained on the final
adjustment of the average expenditures at the port of destination.

The practice of pledging property subject to maritime risks was common
among the ancient Greeks, being known as [Greek: ekdosis] or [Greek:
daneion] (see