Abandoned cruisng boat recovered in the BVI after a month at seas

[foggysail]

I FULLY AGREE WITH BOATMAN'S OUTLOOK!!!

The crap about morality, returning a found boat to somebody who cared not to protect it against loss is just pain bull $hit!!!

UNFORTUNATELY BOATMAN--- the world does not agree with us nor for that matter the US Supreme Court!

Try reading:

17 tons of Nuestra Senora silver head for Spain - US news - Life | NBC News

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by foggysail

I FULLY AGREE WITH BOATMAN'S OUTLOOK!!!

The crap about morality, returning a found boat to somebody who cared not to protect it against loss is just pain bull $hit!!!

UNFORTUNATELY BOATMAN--- the world does not agree with us nor for that matter the US Supreme Court!

Try reading:

17 tons of Nuestra Senora silver head for Spain - US news - Life | NBC News

Two points...
1/ This is treasure trove..
2/ A boat salvaged in international waters..??
The US Supreme Court can sit on my central digit and swivel...
Salvage is an age old tradition/livelihood with pretty much set standards etc... usually not extortionate for recreational vessels but the rewards spiral considerably when they are commercial vessels as the value of the cargo must also be considered..

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by foggysail

I FULLY AGREE WITH BOATMAN'S OUTLOOK!!!

The crap about morality, returning a found boat to somebody who cared not to protect it against loss is just pain bull $hit!!!

UNFORTUNATELY BOATMAN--- the world does not agree with us nor for that matter the US Supreme Court!

Try reading:

17 tons of Nuestra Senora silver head for Spain - US news - Life | NBC News

The important part of that story is the courts held that the treasure ship was a military vessel. By international law military ships are immune to salvage claims, it really sucked for the company involved (my admiralty law prof was one of their attorneys), but they should have called Spain and arranged for a share before recovering it.

[zboss]

I think most people are good. If I found a boat drifting at sea and I had the ability to bring it back in, I would. If I later found out that the owner had a medical emergency and had to be lifted off, I would return the vessel in return for reasonable compensation from his insurance company. In fact, it would bring joy to me to bring something of such emotional importance back to its owner.

If the owner had already collected on the insurance, I would return personal items and file a salvage claim on the vessel.

I am pretty sure that most individuals would also do the same. I would not expect professional salvors to apply the same ethical principles.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by zboss

I think most people are good. If I found a boat drifting at sea and I had the ability to bring it back in, I would. If I later found out that the owner had a medical emergency and had to be lifted off, I would return the vessel in return for reasonable compensation from his insurance company. In fact, it would bring joy to me to bring something of such emotional importance back to its owner.

If the owner had already collected on the insurance, I would return personal items and file a salvage claim on the vessel.

I am pretty sure that most individuals would also do the same. I would not expect professional salvors to apply the same ethical principles.

I would concur in every point. I think that wishing that the likes of you or me spending time, wear, diesel and the potential danger of boarding an abandoned boat into some cruising plan is, however, very naive.

The truth is that we would just as likely, should we be so unfortunate as to stumble upon an abandoned yacht on a) a calm day on b) the high seas or beyond reasonable distance for c) us to tow or d) from any reasonable salvor distance, would consider boarding to scoop up personal items and then would cut the hoses as a multi-tonne drifting sailboat is a definite nav hazard.

An interesting thought to me would be some evidence of a last log entry. If it was three days prior, I might, were it safe to do so, erect a dayshape if the mast was up to indicate "vessel not under command" and then try to raise the authorities in the direction of the current. If the boat had clearly been abandoned for longer than that, I would be more disposed to cut the hoses, particularly if some nature reserve was in the direction of the drift.

I guess my point is that if you MUST leave the boat in order to preserve your life, the possibility that you will never see it again has to be considered a strong one. Just because a boat is salvagable doesn't not mean anyone but the owner is required to do a damn thing about it, and there's strong arguments to sink unmanned boats as drifting nav hazards and toxic dumps.

[lifeofreilly57]

In these days of long distance communications and EPIRB's far too many people feel the urge to abandon ship when they get too uncomfortable. Therefore they tend not to plan as well under the assumption that someone can come rescue them. Unfortunately this has played out quite often in the last decade as less well prepared adventurers venture offshore without the serious preparation required for such an endeavor.
I understand that even the best laid plans can unravel in the face of extreme circumstances, and this is where the coasties and rescue coordination plays a part, but far too often these days the rescue organizations are being put in harms way for situations that should never have required it, they are being asked to risk their lives to rescue people who ended up in the situation due to poor planning.
I've always been under the assumption that you should never be stepping off a perfectly good boat until your stepping up to get into the life raft.
This may not have been the case here but it sure seems to be the trend, of course this trend sure has made some nice boats available to people looking to get a perfectly good boat for short money. You abandon it you take the risk of loosing it completely, and no whining to the guy who takes the risk to get it back to a port safely.

[boatman61]

Where there's a will.. there's always a way..

[dan mckay]

rules of the sea,, you could hire someone to go salvage it if your worried about loosing it, or,,, loose it.

[goboatingnow]

The fact that you abandon a boat , does not mean you loose ownership of the vessel. A salvor is entitles to put a lien on the recovered vessel and seek adjudication of the claim. It's not finders keepers

Dave

[Normanby]

Originally Posted by dan mckay

rules of the sea,, you could hire someone to go salvage it if your worried about loosing it, or,,, loose it.

or tighten it...

[dan mckay]

guess id be happy whoever salvaged it saved me from an enviornmental cleanup bill, and hope he was reasonable, but i wouldnt expect it, thats what insurance is for, if the boat wasnt important enough to carry insurance then be thankfull to be alive.

[kimberlite]

If you search Ocean navigator for "the one that got away" and the word Kimberlite, you can read the article about our almost salvage of Scat.

We were within 100 feet of her about 2 hours after she was abandoned. Due to the time of day and sea conditions we could not board her.

We were really looking forward to boarding her and sailing her into St Maarten and giving her back to the owner as a gift.
Eric Freedman


As a ps. the skipper was severly dehydrated and was so weak he could not even furl the sails. The crew of the vessel Venetia made her ship shape after picking him up. FYI, insurance companies do not insure single handed boats for loss..