The power of the master to pledge the cargo depends upon there being some reasonable prospect of benefit to it by his so doing. He has no such power except in virtue of circumstances which may oblige him to assume the character of agent for the cargo, in the absence of any other party authorized to act on its behalf. Under ordinary circumstances he is not at liberty to pledge the cargo for repairs to the ship. If indeed the goods be of a perishable nature, and if it be impossible to get the ship repaired in sufficient time to obviate serious loss on them by delay, without including them under the bottomry contract, he has power to do so, because it may fairly be assumed, in the case supposed, that the cargo will be benefited by this procedure. The general principle is, that the master must act for the cargo, with a reasonable view to the interests of its proprietors, under the whole circumstances of the case. When he does this his proceedings will be sustained; but should he manifestly prejudice the interests of the cargo by including it under bottomry for the mere purpose of relieving the ship, or of earning the freight, the owners of the cargo will not be bound by the bottomry contract. Any bottomry or respondentia bond may be good in part or bad in part, according as the master may have acted within or beyond the scope of his legitimate authority in granting it. If two or more bottomry bonds have been granted at different stages of the voyage, and the value of the property be insufficient to discharge them all, the last-dated bond has the priority of payment, as having furnished the means of preserving the ship, and thereby preventing the total loss of the security for the previous bonds.
When the sum due under a bottomry bond over ship, freight and cargo is not paid at the stipulated time, proceedings may be taken by the bondholder for recovery of the freight and for the sale of the ship; and should the proceeds of these be insufficient to discharge the claim, a judicial sale of the cargo may be resorted to. As a general rule the value of the ship and freight must be exhausted before recourse can be taken against the cargo. A bottomry bond gives no remedy to the lenders against the owners of the ship or cargo personally. The whole liability under it may be met by the surrender of the property pledged, whether the value so surrendered covers the amount of the bond or not. But the owners of the ship, though not liable to the bondholder for more than the value of the ship and freight, may be further liable to the proprietors of the cargo for any sum in excess of the cargo’s proper share of the expenses, taken by the bondholder out of the proceeds of the cargo to satisfy the bond after the ship and freight have been exhausted.
The bottomry premium must be ultimately paid by the parties for whose benefit the advances were obtained, as ascertained on the final adjustment of the average expenditures at the port of destination.
The practice of pledging property subject to maritime risks was common among the ancient Greeks, being known as ἔκδοσις or δάνειον (see Demosthenes’ speeches Pro Phormione, Contra Lacritum and In Dionysodorum); it passed into Roman law as foenus nauticum or usura maritima.
See also Lien: Maritime; and generally Abbott on Shipping (14th ed., 1901).
BOTZARIS [Bozzaris], MARCO (c. 1788–1823), leader in the
War of Greek Independence, born at Suli in Albania, was the
second son of Kitzo Botzaris, murdered at Arta in 1809 by
order of Ali of Iannina. In 1803, after the capture of Suli by
Ali Pasha, Marco, with the remnant of the Suliots, crossed over
to the Ionian Islands, where he ultimately took service in an
Albanian regiment in French pay. In 1814 he joined the Greek
patriotic society known as the Hetairia Philike, and in 1820,
with other Suliots, made common cause with Ali of Iannina
against the Ottomans. On the outbreak of the Greek revolt, he
distinguished himself by his courage, tenacity and skill as a
partisan leader in the fighting in western Hellas, and was conspicuous
in the defence of Missolonghi during the first siege
(1822–1823). On the night of the 21st of August 1823 he led the
celebrated attack at Karpenisi of 350 Suliots on 4000 Albanians
who formed the vanguard of the army with which Mustai Pasha
was advancing to reinforce the besiegers. The rout of the Turks
was complete; but Botzaris himself fell. His memory is still
celebrated in popular ballads in Greece. Marco Botzaris’s
brother Kosta (Constantine), who fought at Karpenisi and
completed the victory, lived to become a general and senator in
the Greek kingdom. He died at Athens on the 13th of November
1853. Marco’s son, Dimitri Botzaris, born in 1813, was three
times minister of war under the kings Otho and George. He
died at Athens on the 17th of August 1870.
BOTZEN, or Bozen (Ital. Bolzano), a town in the Austrian
province of Tirol, situated at the confluence of the Talfer with
the Eisak, and a short way above the junction of the latter with
the Adige or Etsch. It is built at a height of 869 ft., and is a
station on the Brenner railway, being 58 m. S. of that pass
and 35 m. N. of Trent. In 1900 it had a population of 13,632,
Romanist and mainly German-speaking, though the Italian element
is said to be increasing. Botzen is a Teutonic town amid
Italian surroundings. It is well built, and boasts of a fine old
Gothic parish church, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries,
opposite which a statue was erected in 1889 to the memory of
the famous Minnesänger, Walther von der Vogelweide, who,
according to some accounts, was born (c. 1170) at a farm above
Waidbruck, to the north of Botzen. Botzen is the busiest
commercial town in the German-speaking portion of Tirol,
being admirably situated at the junction of the Brenner route
from Germany to Italy with that from Switzerland down the
Upper Adige valley or the Vintschgau. Hence the transit trade has
always been very considerable (it has four large fairs annually),
while the local wine is mentioned as early as the 7th century.
Lately its prosperity has been increased by the rise into favour
as a winter resort of the village of Gries, on the other bank of the
Talfer, and now practically a suburb of Botzen.
The pons Drusi (probably over the Adige, just below Botzen) is mentioned in the 4th century by the Peutinger Table. In the 7th to 8th centuries Botzen was held by a dynasty of Bavarian counts. But in 1027, with the rest of the diocese of Trent, it was given by the emperor Conrad II. to the bishop of Trent. From 1028 onwards it was ruled by local counts, the vassals of the bishops, but after Tirol fell into the hands of the Habsburgers (1363) their power grew at the expense of that of the bishops. In 1381 Leopold granted to the citizens the privilege of having a town council, while in 1462 the bishops resigned all rights of jurisdiction over the town to the Habsburgers, so that its later history is merged in that of Tirol. (W. A. B. C.)
BOUCHARDON, EDME (1698–1762), French sculptor, was
esteemed in his day the greatest sculptor of his time. Born at
Chaumont, he became the pupil of Guillaume Coustou and gained
the prix de Rome in 1722. Resisting the tendency of the day
he was classic in his taste, pure and chaste, always correct,
charming and distinguished, a great stickler for all the finish
that sand-paper could give. During the ten years he remained
at Rome, Bouchardon made a striking bust of Pope Benedict
XIII. (1730). In 1746 he produced his first acclaimed masterpiece,
“Cupid fashioning a Bow out of the Club of Hercules,”
perfect in its grace, but cold in the purity of its classic design.
His two other leading chefs-d’œuvre are the fountain in the rue
de Grenelle, Paris, the first portions of which had been finished
and exhibited in 1740, and the equestrian statue of Louis XV.,
a commission from the city of Paris. This superb work, which,
when the model was produced, was declared the finest work of
its kind ever produced in France, Bouchardon did not live to
finish, but left its completion to Pigalle. It was destroyed during
the Revolution.
Among the chief books on the sculptor and his art are Vie d’Edme Bouchardon, by le comte de Caylus (Paris, 1762); Notice sur Edme Bouchardon, sculpteur, by E. Jolibois (Versailles, 1837); Notice historique sur Edme Bouchardon, by J. Carnandet (Paris, 1855); and French Architects and Sculptors of the 18th Century, by Lady Dilke (London, 1900).
BOUCHER, FRANÇOIS (1703–1770), French painter, was born in Paris, and at first was employed by Jean François Cars (1670–1739), the engraver, father of the engraver Laurent Cars (1699–1771), to make designs and illustrations for books. In 1727,
