448. Usual authority of master in relation to bill of lading.

All persons taking a bill of lading signed by the master are entitled to presume that the latter possessed the authority usual in the line of business in which he was employed1. Where, therefore, the bill of lading as signed falls within the usual authority of a master, this is done with ostensible authority and the shipowner cannot repudiate liability merely on the ground that he had limited any actual authority of the particular master2. No limitation in derogation of the usual authority is binding except as against persons who are or ought to have been aware of it