from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DI COLONNA, mar. contracts. This contract tales place between the owner of a
ship, the captain and the mariners, who agree that the voyage shall be for
the benefit of all. This is a term used in the Italian law. Targa, oh. 36,
37: Emerigon, Mar. Loans, s. 5.
2. The New England whalers are owned and navigated in this manner, and
under this species of contract. The captain and his mariners are all
interested in the profits of the voyage in certain proportion, in the same
manner as the captain and crew of a privateer, according to the agreement
between them. Such agreement, being very common in former times, all the
mariners and the masters being interested in the voyage. It is. necessary to
know this, in order to understand many of the provisions of the laws of
Oleron, Wishuy, the Consolato del Mare, and other ancient codes of maritime
and commercial law. Hall on Mar. Loans, 42.