Respondentia

Respondentia is a loan raised by the master of a ship, when he has no other means of doing so, upon security of the cargo or goods on board the ship. The contract has reference to a particular voyage, and the conditions are that if the subject on which the money is advanced be lost by sea, risk, or superior force of the enemy the lender shall lose his money; and that if the goods arrive in safety the loan shall be repaid with a greater than ordinary rate of interest, called marine interest. When the ship herself is hypothecated the contract is called Bottomry (q.v.). As a matter of fact the term respondentia is now seldom used, and generally the expression bottomry is employed whether the vessel or her cargo or both be the security.