Maine Revised Statutes Title 38. Waters and Navigation § 161. Liability to freighters

A ship owner is not answerable beyond the amount of the ship owner's interest in the vessel and freight for the embezzlement, loss or destruction, by the master and mariners, of any property put on board of such vessel, or for any act of theirs without the ship owner's privity or knowledge. If several owners of property on the same voyage suffer such damage and the whole vessel and its freight for the voyage are not sufficient to compensate each of them, they must be compensated by the owner of the vessel in proportion to their respective losses, and for that purpose, they or the owner of the vessel, or any of them, may file a complaint for discovery and payment of the sum, for which such owner is liable to the parties entitled thereto.