Although ship-repairer's claims per se do not normally enjoy priority higher than mortgagee claims, they could do so if the ship was in the repairer's possession at the time the ship was arrested and the ship-repairer can be said to have a possessory lien over the ship. So the ship-repairer's legal expenditure (which is recoverable in common law jurisdictions) in advancing successfully his claim that enjoyed priority over the mortgagee's claim, should have the same priority as the principal claim and thus higher priority than the mortgagee's claim.
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