We brought these cases here because they call for determination of important issues in the administration of admiralty law. 335 U.S. 809, 69 S.Ct. 40. They bring for review a decree of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirming the dismissal of a petition for limited liability brought in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York by the United States, as owner and the Black Diamond Steamship Corporation as bareboat charterer of the S. S. Norwalk Victory. 167 F.2d 308.
The facts controlling our decision are riefly these. On April 28, 1947, the Norwalk Victory, while proceeding down the Schelde River in the territorial waters of Belgium, collided with the British steamer Merganser. The Merganser sank with all her cargo; her chief steward was killed; in backing away from the Merganser the Norwalk Victory struck and damaged the bank of the Schelde. Soon after the collision the owners of the Merganser brought suit against Black Diamond in the High Court of Justice of England claiming damages in the amount of $1,000,000. That is the only proceeding which has been brought abroad. On October 14, 1947, the owners of the cargo lost in the sinking of the Merganser brought suit in the Eastern District of New York; aggregate claims thus far filed total nearly $1,000,000.
In their petition for limitation of liability, brought under R.S. § 4285, as amended, 49 Stat. 1480, 46 U.S.C. s 185, 46 U.S.C.A. § 185, the United States and Black Diamond allege the possibility that in addition to the suit in the High Court of Justice and the suits by the cargo owners in New York, there may be suits in the courts of the United States by other cargo owners, by the personal representative of the Merganser's chief steward, and by the Belgian Government for damages to the bank of the Schelde and for the cost of removing the wreck of the Merganser from the river. These claims, they say, would exceed the value of the Norwalk Victory, which is about $1,000,000. But the petitioners, despite the provisions of R.S. § 4283, as amended, 49 Stat. 1479, 46 U.S.C. § 183, 46 U.S.C.A. § 183, do not recognize the value of their ship as the limit of their liability. They insist, rather, that their liability is limited by the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to the Limitation of the Liability of Owners of Seagoing Vessels, signed at Brussels on August 25, 1924. The Convention was ratified by Belgium on June 2, 1930, and took effect on June 2, 1931; it is alleged, therefore, to have been part of the territorial law of Belgium at the time of this collision in Belgian waters. On the basis of this Convention, the petitioners assert their maximum liability to be $325,028.79.
Accordingly, Black Diamond accompanied its petition for limitation of liability with a bond in the amount of $325,028.79. The United States, standing upon 28 U.S.C. § 2408, 28 U.S.C.A. § 2408, and § 3 of the Suits in Admiralty Act, 41 Stat. 526, as amended, 46 U.S.C. § 743, 46 U.S.C.A. § 743, filed no bond. The District Court, holding that the privilege of limiting liability relates 'not to the substantive rights giving rise to the liability, but to the remedy, and that is governed by the law of the forum,' dismissed the petition of the ground that Black Diamond had not complied with R.S. s 4285 by filing a bond in the amount of the value of the ship $1,000,000. The standing of the United States (which was not separately represented at that stage of the proceeding) was not considered.