So you're out sailing one afternoon and you come across a million dollar yacht adrift a couple miles offshore. There's no one on board. You look around and notice a section of anchor chain hanging off the bow, a parted chain link dangling at the end, leading you to conclude that the boat went adrift after losing its anchor.
Someone at your marina once told you that you can keep anything you find on the ocean. So you must be the proud new owner of a million dollar boat, right?
Not so fast.
Despite what you may have been told, there is no "finders keepers" rule in maritime law. The legal concept that comes closest is the law of "salvage," which unfortunately is frequently misunderstood by the yachting community.
SALVAGE BASICS
Salvage is the process by which a ship (or its cargo) has been saved from a shipwreck, fire, grounding or any other loss or misfortune. This would include finding a boat that's adrift or abandoned and towing it back to port.
Unfortunately, the legal definition of "towing" a boat is not as clear as it sounds. Salvage is frequently confused with towing, since both services are frequently performed by a towing company and both may be rendered to a vessel in peril. Salvage is distinguished, however, by the "no cure, no pay" nature of the services.
During a salvage job, the company or individual who performs the salvage gets paid nothing unless the vessel is successfully recovered. If the company gets paid regardless of their success, the job is a "tow," and the company will get their regular rate for towing services. Even if the salvage is done successfully, salvage operations do not involve a pre–determined amount for the salvage fee. The myth that a person who saves a vessel from peril is awarded title to the vessel probably stems from all of this legal ambiguity.
Upon the completion of a successful salvage, where there was no pre–determined fee, a salvage company will typically enter into a negotiation with the vessel's insurance company. Those negotiations will consider a series of six factors in connection with the salvage operation: The labor expended in rendering the salvage service; the promptness, skill, and energy displayed in rendering the service and saving the vessel; the value of the towing vessels and other property employed in rendering the service, and the danger to which such property was exposed; the risk involved in securing the vessel from impending peril; the value of the vessel saved; and the degree of danger from which the vessel was rescued. Courts have also added a seventh factor in cases where a significant risk of pollution may exist.
