Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, lifting a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Salvors are normally paid for their efforts. However, protecting the coastal environment from oil spillages or other contaminants from a modern ship can also be a motivator, as oil, cargo, and other pollutants can easily leak from a wreck and in these instances, governments or authorities may organise the salvage.
Before the invention of radio, salvage services would be given to a stricken vessel by any passing ship. Today, most salvage is carried out by specialist salvage firms with dedicated crews and equipment. The legal significance of salvage is that a successful salvor is entitled to a reward, which is a proportion of the total value of the ship and its cargo. The bounty is determined subsequently at a "hearing on the merits" by a maritime court in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the International Salvage Convention of 1989. The common law concept of salvage was established by the English Admiralty Court and is defined as "a voluntary successful service provided in order to save maritime property in danger at sea, entitling the salvor to a reward"; this definition has been further refined by the 1989 Convention.
Originally, a "successful" salvage was one where at least part of the ship or cargo was saved; otherwise, the principle of "No Cure, No Pay" meant that the salvor would get nothing. In the 1970s, a number of marine casualties of single-skin-hull tankers led to serious oil spills. Such casualties were discouraging to salvors, so the Lloyd's Open Form made provision that a salvor who attempts to prevent environmental damage will be paid, even if unsuccessful. This Lloyd's initiative was later incorporated into the 1989 Convention.
All vessels have an international duty to give reasonable assistance to other ships in distress to save lives, but there is no obligation to try to save the vessel. Any offer of salvage assistance may be refused; if it is accepted, a contract automatically arises to give the successful salvor the right to a reward under the 1989 Convention. Typically, the ship and salvor will sign up to an LOF agreement so that the terms of salvage are clear. Since 2000, it has become standard to append a SCOPIC clause to the LOF to ensure that a salvor does not abuse the aforementioned environmental policy stated in the 1989 Convention.
The techniques applied in marine salvage are largely a matter of adapting available materials and equipment to the situation, which are often constrained by urgencies, weather and sea conditions, site accessibility, and financial considerations. Diving is slow, labour-intensive, dangerous, expensive, constrained by conditions, and often inefficient, but may be the only, or most efficient, way to do some tasks needed to complete the salvage job. Salvage work includes towing an abandoned or disabled vessel which is still afloat to safety, assisting in fighting a fire on board another vessel, refloating sunk or stranded vessels, righting a capsized vessel, recovering the cargo, stores, or equipment from a wreck, or demolishing it in place for scrap. The work may be done for profit, clearing a blocked shipping lane or harbour, or for preventing or limiting environmental damage.
Types
Marine salvage takes many forms, and may involve anything from refloating a ship that has gone aground or sunk as well as necessary work to prevent loss of the vessel, such as pumping water out of a ship to keep it afloat, or extinguishing fires on board, to clearing wreckage to remove navigational or ecological hazards, or recovery of cargo, fuel, stores, equipment, or scrap metal.Contract salvage
In contract salvage the owner of the property and salvor enter into a salvage contract prior to the commencement of salvage operations and the amount that the salvor is paid is determined by the contract. This can be a fixed amount, based on a "time and materials" basis, or any other terms that both parties agree to. The contract may also state that payment is only due if the salvage operation is successful, or that payment is due even if the operation fails. An example of a contract salvage is Lloyd's Standard Form of Salvage Agreement, an English law arbitration agreement administered by the Council of Lloyd's, London.A ship that has broken down but is not in immediate danger is usually in a position to negotiate terms and may request to be towed to a safe haven on a commercial hire basis rather than in terms of a Lloyds Open Form.
If the casualty appears to be beyond salvage or at a high risk of sinking, breaking up, burning out or otherwise becoming uneconomical to salvage on a LOF, the salvage operator may change the contract from LOF to SCOPIC, which stipulates that all costs plus a reasonable profit are paid to the salvage operator by the casualty's insurers.
If the salvage operator is unable to salvage the vessel, they or a different salvage contractor may be requested to remain on site to help manage the risk of pollution or decrease the damage.
Pure salvage
In the United States, in pure salvage, there is no contract between the owner of the goods and the salvor. The relationship is one implied by law; the salvor of property under pure salvage must bring his claim for salvage in a court which has jurisdiction, and this will award salvage based upon the "merit" of the service as well as the value of the property itself.Pure salvage claims are classified as "high-order" and "low-order" salvage. In high-order salvage, the salvor exposes their crew to risk of injury, and their equipment to damage or loss to salvage the property that is in peril. Examples of high-order salvage are boarding a sinking ship in heavy weather, boarding a ship which is on fire, raising a ship, plane, or other sunken property, or towing a ship which is in the surf away from the shore. In low-order salvage, the salvor is exposed to little or no personal risk. Examples of low-order salvage include towing another vessel in calm seas, supplying a vessel with fuel, or pulling a vessel off a sand bar. Salvors performing high-order salvage receive substantially greater rewards than those performing low-order salvage.
In order for a claim to be awarded, three requirements must be met: The property must be in peril, the service must be rendered voluntarily, and the salvage must be successful in whole or in part.
There are several factors the court uses to determine the salvor's amount. Some of these include the difficulty of the task, the risk involved to the salvor, the value of the property saved, the degree of danger to which the property was exposed, and the potential environmental impacts. Rarely, the salvage award would be greater than 50 percent of the salvaged property's value. Usually, salvage awards amount to 10–25% of the value of the property.
Naval salvage
Several navies have rescue and salvage vessels to support their fleet and serve distressed vehicles. In addition, they may have Deep Salvage Units. US Navy salvage facilities and operations are coordinated by the Supervisor of Salvage, situated in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Virginia, Spain, Bahrain, Singapore, and Japan.Plunder
When vessels are lost in an unknown area or are unprotected, a potential salvor might discover and plunder the wreck without knowledge of the wreck's owner. Salvaging a foreign navy's vessel is against international law. Despite this, many shipwrecks from World War II near Indonesia — where most of the water is shallower than — are threatened by scavenging for low-background steel for use in medical and scientific equipment.Intelligence salvage
During World War I, a Royal Navy team of covert divers led by GCC Damant salvaged intelligence materials from recently sunken U-boats. They mostly worked in the English Channel but extended as far as Scapa Flow. They dived and found at least fifteen wrecks, of which about seven provided valuable intelligence material.At the height of the Cold War, the United States raised a portion of in the Western Pacific Ocean. The CIA, who conducted the salvage under the guise of mining the seafloor for manganese nodules with a commercial vessel, spent over $800 million in 1974 on the clandestine operation now known as Project Azorian.
Law
Salvage law states that a salvor should be rewarded for risking their life and property to rescue another ship in danger. It is in some ways similar to the wartime law of prize — the capture, condemnation and sale of a vessel and its cargo as a spoil of war, insofar as both compensate the salvor/captors for risking life and property. The two areas of law may overlap each other. For instance, a vessel taken as a prize, then recaptured by friendly forces on its way to the prize adjudication, is not deemed a prize of the rescuers. However, the rescuing vessel is entitled to a claim for salvage. Likewise, a vessel found badly damaged, abandoned, and adrift after taking enemy fire, does not become a prize of a rescuing friendly vessel, but the rescuers may claim salvage. A vessel is considered in peril if it is in immediate danger or is likely within a reasonable and relevant period to become in danger. Prior to a salvage attempt, the salvor receives permission from the owner or the master to assist the vessel. If the vessel is abandoned, no permission is needed.The reward is partly determined by the value of the vessel, the degree of risk, and the degree of peril the vessel was in. Legal disputes often arise from claiming salvage rights, so boat owners or skippers often remain on board and in command of the vessel; they do everything possible to minimise further loss and seek to minimise the degree of risk the vessel is in. If another vessel offers a tow and the master or owner negotiates an hourly rate before accepting, then salvage does not apply.
Some maritime rescue organisations, such as Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institution advise that the crews of their lifeboats renounce their right to claim compensation for salvage, however if property is saved, they can make a claim but may need to pay for the use of the lifeboat and any damages that might occur.
Jetsam are goods thrown off a ship to eliminate any unnecessary weight. Flotsam are goods that floated away from the ship when it was sinking. Ligan or lagan are goods left in the sea, on the wreck, or tied to a buoy, so that they can be recovered later by the owners. Derelict is abandoned vessels or cargo.
The United Kingdom's Merchant Shipping Act 1995 states that jetsam, flotsam, lagan, and all other cargo in the wreckage remain the property of their original owners. Anyone removing those goods must inform the Receiver of Wreck to avoid the accusation of theft. Wreck diving has laws to protect historic wrecks of archaeological importance, and the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 protects ships and aircraft that are the last resting place of the remains of members of the armed forces.
The 1910 Brussels Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules with Respect to Assistance and Salvage at Sea reflects the traditional legal principles of marine salvage. The 1989 International Convention on Salvage incorporated the essential provisions of the 1910 Convention while adding on new principles. The 1989 Salvage Convention entered force on 14 July 1996 with nearly twenty parties in agreement. States that are part of both conventions consider the 1989 Convention a greater priority over the 1910 one, where their provisions are mutually incompatible.
Boat owners can clarify with an assisting vessel if the operation is to be considered salvage, or simply assistance towing. If this is not done, the boat owner may find that the rescuer may be eligible for a substantial salvage award if the salvor can show sufficient evidence that the vessel was in peril at the time, and a lien may be placed on the vessel if it is unpaid. The salvor may then have a lawful right to keep the salvaged property until the claim is settled. The claim and award in law is influenced by the salved values involved, as well as the level of care, nature of rescue and efforts of the salvor. However, the salvage award can never exceed the salved value of the ship and property.