A contract of af-frelghtment is a contract with a ship-owner to hire his ship, or part of It, for the car-rlage of goods. Such a contract generally takes the form either of a charter-party or of a blll of lading. Maude & P. Mer. Shipp. 227; Smith, Merc. Lnw, 295; Bramble v. Culmer, 78 Fed. 501, 24 C. C. A. 182; Auten v. Bennett, 88 App. Div. 15, 84 N. Y. Supp. 689