BOTTOMRY, a maritime contract in the nature of a mort gage of a ship by which money is borrowed for the necessities of the ship to enable it to proceed on its voyage. The keel or bottom of the ship (as representing the whole), with the cargo and freight, are made liable for the repayment of the money borrowed, with interest. The lender cannot recover either principal or interest if the ship is lost on the voyage (see the "Atlas" [1827] 2 Haggard Admiralty 53) . In view of the risk which the lender runs, the rate of interest is usually a high one.
As the basis for this special kind of contract, there must be the necessity of resorting to a charge on the ship. It must be impossible to obtain the funds required in any other way than by a hypothecation of the ship. The lender on bottomry becomes entitled to a maritime lien giving him precedence of certain other claimants, but he takes the risk of non-recovery should the ship be lost. Contracts of this kind, according to Lord Stowell, in the "Alexander" (1812) 1 Dodson 278, "were invented for the purpose of procuring the necessary supplies for ships which may happen to be in distress in foreign ports, where the master and the owners are without credit, and where, unless assistance could be secured by means of such an instrument, the vessels and their cargoes must be left to perish." Though bottomry is of great antiquity, this kind of contract is now seldom resorted to in practice. Increased facilities for communication and al te ed methods of business have rendered bottomry bonds almost obsolete.
In order to amount to bottomry the contract must be in writ ing. Though usually in the form of a bond, this is not essential so long as the writing shows the parties, the sum advanced, the ship, the voyage, the time for payment (usually on the safe arrival of the ship), that payment is conditional upon the safe arrival of the ship, and that the ship is hypothecated (see the "James W. Elwell" [1921] p. 351, and earlier cases there cited).
Respondentia is a contract similar to bottomry, the loan being obtained for the necessities of the cargo, and being charged upon it.
Communication if possible by the shipmaster with the ship owner before resort to bottomry is, by English law, necessary to the validity of a bottomry bond. A separate communication with the owners of the cargo where reasonable is also necessary. The lender must assure himself of the necessity for bottomry. The consent of a mortgagee of the ship need not be obtained, but, where practicable, the lender on bottomry should see that a mort gagee has notice of the necessity for the hypothecation before obtaining the bond (see the "St. George" [ 1926] p. 217) . A bot tomry bond does not transfer the property in the ship, but gives the lender a claim enforceable if necessary by legal proceedings in a court exercising Admiralty jurisdiction. The law by which the contract is governed is that of the ship's flag.
See Abbot's Shipping (1901) ; Roscoe's Admiralty Practice (292o) ; Maclachlan's Shipping (1923). (S. D. C.)