What Laws Govern Salvaging Booty From the Grounded Costa Concordia?

[TomBrooklyn]

What are the applicable laws regarding the salvage by booty hunters of anything aboard the Carnival Lines's Costa Concordia cruise ship that recently ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio; including those things that belong to the ship, and the possessions passengers left behind?

The ship is reported to have been carrying a large art collection. Additionally, any formerly mundane things with the ships name on it has taken on considerable souvenir value. And it is believed many passengers abandoned valuable jewelry.

[boasun]

The ship is not abandoned. The Insurance companies that insured said vessel now owns her and will salvage her....
Taking stuff from an apparently abandoned vessel is tadamount to thievery. The salvage and recovery laws are convoluted and varies wildly from country to country. Insurance companies have recovered from wrecks that are centuries old
Now salvage contracts depends on whether the salvor is successful or not. Or as the saying goes "No cure, No pay."

[justwaiting]

in addition to the above post
Access to the ships and the adjacent areas would be under the control of the Authorities. They would probably consider any one trying to enter the ship a looter. Before any thing was picked up you may well be looking at jail time.

[SunDevil]

It is still a crime scene isn't it? And it hasn't been abandoned, well technically...

[rgscpat]

The story of the Central America might be instructive. This was a deeper water wreck; the salvors located it, brought up some items, then got the relevant court to give them salvage rights. And, even more than a hundred years after the sinking, the salvors had to deal with lawsuits from insurance companies.

[justwaiting]

just because the captain "resigned" without notice and left the "premises" with customers "lock" inside" does not mean that the ship has been abandoned. That just means that the captain is facing criminal charges under Italian law (hopeful justice).

So yea, a crime scene until any investigations are complete. So entering a crime scene, interfering with an investigation, removal of evidence.....

such as Costa Concordia: 'clothing and lingerie of Moldovan dancer found in Captain Schettino's cabin' - Telegraph

[S/V Alchemy]

Another case of driving with no hands...uh...

[capn_billl]

Anything that sunk in the last hundred years is still "owned" by someone. If one approached the insurance company involved, or the cruise company and submitted a bid for salvage, (you and a hundred other salvage companies), you would probably get paid a share of the salvage costs if you won the bid.

These days treasure hunters are having a tough time of it. Anything that sunk in more than a hundred years, is claimed by a dozen governments as an "antiquity", or historical relic. Even the finder the the Atocha has had to ward off dozens of lawsuites and claims, from everyone from the decendants of the former shipmates, to the decendants of the Mayans, who claim the gold originally belonged to them, to the Spanish, Bahamas, and U.S. government, who all claim jurisdiction, primary ownership, and taxes owed, (which add up collectively to more than 100% of the estimated value).

Recently the son of an elderly eccentric wealthy woman found a stash of cash under her matteress after she died,...It was seized by the police because he could not prove it was lawfully earned, and that she had paid all the taxes on it.

Sadly the days of "finders keepers" is long gone.

If by some chance you did find gold under the rainbow, you would have to not only pay the "windfall" tax, you would also have to fight a claim by the lepracons association.

[David M]

It's in Italian waters. Italian laws and Italian judges decide.

It is not sitting at the bottom of the ocean in international waters.

[TomBrooklyn]

I read that there are looters lurking in the wings, itching to get aboard the Costa.

I think body recovery is still going on by some authorities. And after that, I suppose there will be some arrangements likely made for some kind of orderly salvage operations. There will also be fuel removal going on for a while in the near future, too.

Looting of a legal sort has started also. Some lawsuits have been filed for millions of dollars per person for pain and suffering, etc.

[MacG]

This will be fodder for the lawslingers. And yes, the boat is now owned by the insirance coys only as long as they take responsibility. The very moment they do not pay out the wreck comes under the protection of the Italian authorities.
The people who lost their properties will direct their claims to their own insurance coys. In a leter stage they will forward their claims to the owners who will direct those claims to their insurers.
However, be not so sure insurers of Costa will pay damage in full. But that will be a matter of the future, so don't contradict me prematurely.