Marine Hull Insurance. Term or Voyage Deviation.

    Hull insurance, as already indicated, may be written to cover either a specific voyage, from a given port of departure to a stipulated port of destination, or a stated period of time, such as one year from noon of January 1, 1919, to noon of January 1, 1920. In the great majority of instances vessels are insured under time policies and it is cus- tomary to specify either Greenwich or Washington time. Occa- sionally the policy may cover for a voyage and, say, thirty days thereafter in which case the term may be said to represent a combination of the two (voyage and time) types of policies.

    It is customary in voyage policies to have the insurance com- mence " at and from " or " from " a particular place. This does not mean that the vessel must be at the designated place when the insurance is effected. It is understood, however, that the contract lapses if the voyage is not started at the indicated place of departure within a reasonable time, unless, of course, the underwriter agreed to the contrary, or it can be shown that the delay was due to unavoidable circumstances known to him prior to the conclusion of the contract. Avoidance of the policy will depend upon the unreasonableness of delay. As long as preparations for the voyage are bona fide, and clearly above any suspicion of wasting time, delay in starting the voyage will be excused. The prosecution of the voyage, following its commencement, or at the port of destination, must also be viewed in the same manner, and any unreasonable and inexcusable delay will avoid the policy. It should also be added that the insurance does not attach if the two termini of the voyage are incorrectly stated. If the vessel, for example, is insured for a voyage from New York to Liverpool, but the actual voyage undertaken is from Philadelphia to Liverpool, the insurance would never attach despite the fact that the hazard connected with the actual voyage may be no greater, or even less, than that involved in the voyage described in the policy.

     To prevent avoidance of the insurance in cases of impending difficulties, hull policies stipulate that " it shall be lawful for the insured vessel in her voyage, to proceed and sail to, touch and stay at, any ports or places, if thereunto obliged by stress of weather or other unavoidable accidents without prejudice to this insurance." This section aims to prevent " change of voyage " and " deviation," either of which will avoid the policy. The first has reference to cases where the vessel begins the insured voyage but subsequently abandons the same for another voyage, while the latter contemplates all instances where there is a voluntary and unjustifiable departure from the course of travel prescribed by the contract. When assuming the risk, the underwriter had in mind the performance of the customary voyage in a regular and expeditious manner, and this fundamental condition is implied even though no definite reference may be made thereto in the contract of insurance. Unjustifiable deviation, involving an avoidance of the insurance, is held by the courts to comprise not only an unnecessary departure from the prescribed course of navigation, and, where not prescribed, the customary course, but also an unreasonable extension in the performance of the voyage. Owing to the drastic manner in which the courts have construed deviation, or change of voyage, it is customary for underwriters to agree, for an extra premium, to continue the insurance in force in the event of either taking place, or to grant insurance for a definite period of time.