Bottomry

Inmaritimelaw. <A contract in the nature of a mortgage, by which the owner of a ship borrows money for the use, equipment, or repair of the vessel, and for a definite term, and pledges the ship (or the keel or boffom of the ship, pars pro toto) as a security for its repayment, with muritime or extraordinary interest on account of the marine risks to be borne by the lender; it being stipulated that if the ship be lost in the course of the specified voyage, or during the limited time, by any of the perils enumerated in the contract, the lender shall also lose his money.

2 Hagg. Adm, 48, 53; 2 Sum. 157.

Bottomry is a contract by which a ship or its freightage is hypothecated as security for a loan, which is to be repaid only in case the ship survives a particular risk, voyage, or period. Civil Code Cal. § 3017; Civil Code Dak. § 1783. or exchanged in the course of the voyage, the borrower’s personal responsibility is deemed the principal security for the performance of the contract, which is therefore called “respondentia,” which see. And in a loan upon respondentia the lender must be paid his principal and interest though the ship perish, provided the goods are saved. In most other respects the contracts of bultaumry and of respondeniia stand substantially upon the same footing.

Bouvier.