1. Will the liability of a carrier of goods by sea cease on discharge of the cargo from the tackles of the vessel? Can the owner of a ship escape liability, if the ship is chartered by another under a Charter Party? Whether the defendants are entitled to the defence of "act of God" in this particular case? These are the broad questions to be answered in these two connected appeals, though of course, some other ancillary questions also call for determination. A Division Bench of this Court, which heard these appeals, referred them to a Full Bench as the questions involved are "generally important enough to be considered by a Full Bench."

2. Briefly stated, the facts are as follows: "S. S. Lucky Three of Panama Flag" is a vessel owned by the first defendant, Wing on Steamship Company, which carries on business at Hongkong among other places. The said vessel was chartered by M/s. General Traders Limited (2nd defendant), a West Indies based concern, under Charter Party dated 8-1-1972. M/s. Cashew Corporation of India Ltd., a Government of India undertaking, (CCI, for short), engaged the 2nd defendant to transship 15,000 bags of raw cashew nuts of Kenyan origin from Mombasa t