Definition of Bottomry

In maritime law. A contract in the nature of a mortgage, by which the owner of a ship borrows money for the nse, equipment or repair of the vessel, and for a definite term, and pledges the ship (or the keel or bottom of the ship, pars pro tQto) as a security for its repajment, with maritime 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 hls money. The Draco, 2 Sumn. 157, Fed. Cas. No. 4,057; White v. Cole, 24 Wend. (N. Y.) 126; Carrington v. The Pratt, 18 How. 63, 15 L. Ed. 267; The Dora (D. Ct) 34 Fed. 343; Jennings v. Insurance Co., 4 Bin. (Pa.) 244, 5 Am. Dec. 404; Braynard v. Hoppock, 7 Bosw. (N. Y.) 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. Civ. Code Cal. § 3017; Civ. Code Dak. § 1783. When the loan is not made upon the ship, but on the goods laden on board, and which are to be sold 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 bottomry and of respondentia stand substantially upon the same footing. Bouvier.