The rescuing ships threatened not to transport the oil unless it was sold to them. The court finds the threat improper. It remarked, "The contrivance of a . . . sale . . . where the master of the Richmond was hopeless, helpless, and passive . . . where one party had absolute power, and the other no choice but submission . . . is a transaction which has no characteristic of a valid contract."
Assuming the threat was improper, the contract to sell the oil is...