fast bloke

been out playing all weekend on Lough Erne. Given the strong wind there was no doubt someone would get in trouble. I carry an anchor and enough tools to strip and rebuild my engine, but it seems I am in the minority. Yesterday I rescued three divs on a vessel I can only describe as a toy - probably worth 500 quid. An hour later I was towing a Sealine S25 worth 40k back into the marina. Back out this morning and within 20 minutes I picked up a call on the VHF for a 40 ft Fairline Targa who had lost engines and had no backup. This is a 300k boat. It was too big for me to tow back to the marina, but I got a rope on it, towed it into the lee of a nearby island and spent 20 minutes getting it to run from my spare fuel. Owner gets it back to the marina and says "What do you want to do about the salvage rights" - I suggested he buy me a pint. Thought nothing of it until I came back in a couple of hours later and the guy who runs the powerboat courses tells me that the Fairline is now technically mine. Is this how salvage rights work?????

Turbohot

WOW!

Anyone?

DJ73

Was the owner on board when you towed / fixed the boat ?
What about " salavge right's " on the other two boat's you towed the day before ?

Brother_Will

Yes under maratime law a boat or ship abandonded by its crew can be claimed under the rights of salvage by anyone. The usual procedure is to sell it back to the insurance company for something like 10% of its worth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage

Theres a little here about it.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

But FB, you're on Lough Erne - hardly maritme!!

But certainly worth more than a pint or two

Nimbus

And it doesn't look like it was abandonded either...

dmc1980

I was always lead to beleive, if you through them a rope, its yours, if they through you a rope its theirs. So technically its yours.

ajm

Its not that straight forward, but technically you could be due a reward. See: http://www.nash.co.uk/xpage.php?article_id=665

Edited to add: of course the gentlemanly thing to do is not to pursue it. You might be grateful of someone elses assistance in the future!

fast bloke

I didn't even think about it - when I saw they were stuck the only decent thing to do was give them a hand - The guy was joking when he asked me about the salvage, but it seems from the link about that he is now contractually obliged to buy me a pint

(Ah well - looks like I will just have to save up and buy my own 300k boat... only another 150000 weeks to go )