7. Limits of Liability.—
It is important in all dealings with the ship, whether by way of investment of capital, or labor, or by entrusting goods to her for carriage, or by making repairs or furnishing supplies, to remember that the ship may be both the basis and the limit of financial liability, unless her owners in some way add their personal responsibility thereto. It was appreciated at an early day in the history of navigation that capitalists would not invest in ships unless there was some limit to their liability on that account. Ships are wanderers and capitalists can seldom navigate them. No form of investment can produce such large liabilities at any time. The owners can not supervise them in person but must entrust their operations to others beyond their control. Hence, out of the necessities of the situation, the doctrine developed that the ship must be treated as an individual, responsible for her own acts, and that the owner's responsibility was limited to his investment unless he personally went beyond this protection.