Harlan F. Stone

“ The superiority of the government's claim to that of the mortgagee is certainly not affected by the fact that the vessels have been returned, and the mortgagee seeks, not the full amount of its mortgages, but the amount in which it contends its interest has been destroyed or its security impaired. ”

“ August 12, 1918, the United States, through the Shipping Board, entered into a contract with the owners of the ships and the mortgagee, predecessor in interest of the intervener, by which it was provided that the government should retain from the amounts which would otherwise be due as just compensation for the use of the vessels, its expenditures in behalf of the owners, for transporting to their destinations the cargoes which were in the ships at the time of requisition. ”

“ The intervener does not say, and cannot, on these findings, that it made the repairs to protect the security of the liens rather than that of its own mortgages, which are subordinate to the claims of the government. Accordingly, there is no basis in the findings for contending that the intervener stands in any better position as the holder of the construction liens than it does as mortgagee. ”