The Daily Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Or.) 1876-1883, 1883-09-08
An Important Matter.
AsToRrL. Sept. z. 1888
Ed. AsToRLAN:


About a score Of well meaning nat
uralized citizens unacquainted with
the American law on the subject of
salvage on goods recovered from
wrecked vessels, having asked me for
information on the subject, will yon
kindly, for their benefit, publish the
following extract from section 5,358,
page 1,045, Revised Statutes of the
United States. Every person who
plumbers, steals, or destroys any
money, goods, merchandise, or other
effects from or belonging to any YES
sci in distress, or trouble, lost, strand
ed, or cast away upon the sea, or mp
on any reef, shoal, bank, or rocks of
the sea, or in any other place within
the admiralty and maritime iurisdic-
ton Of the United States.
shall be punished by fine of not
more than FIVE thousand dollars, and
Imprisonment at hard labor not more
than ten years.
Dixon's claw of Shipping" (stand-
ard authority, believe, in American
Admiralty courts), says in answer to
question What kind of possession do
the salvors gain a right tol" (sec. 736,
PIP. 654-5). "The finder, who takes
possession of the goods with the in
tentiOn of saving them, gains a right
of possession, which he may maintain
against the owner, and lien on them
for salvage. The finder does not
acquire the dominion ur ahsolu,e
property. This remains IN the owner;
for ii is presumed that the owner has
not thrown away his property purpose
ly, through dislike and with an intent
that 1t shall be no longer reckoned
among his possessions, but has
abandonded the profession simply
through necessity. Nor has the
master of vessel authority to give or
throw away the owners goods, so as
to divest him of his right of property,
however great the peril or distress
may be. But the finder. taking the
possession left vacant, acquires the
right of possession, and becomes bound
to preserve the property with good
faith and TO bring it TO place of
safety for the owners use; and he ac-
quires right 10 be paid for his
services a reasonable and proper COM
pensation out of the property itself.
He is not bound to part with the
possession until this is paid, or the
property is taken into the custody of
the law preparatory TO the amount of
salvage being legally ascertained.
1t would perhaps be as well for the
class of citizens / have referred to, to
be assured that if they deliver mp the
goods they have saved to the proper
officers legally entitled 10 receive
them and take his receipt thereof,
that receipt virtually still gives them
possession Of the goods until the
amount Of salvage they are entitled to
is awarded by the Admiralty court
which has jurisdiction in the matter.
L believe, sir, by publishing the
above you will confer a favor on many
others besides,
Yours respectfully,
Z. {. HOLDEN.
Astoria, Sept. Z, 1883.
In addition to the point above SO
excellently SET forth by our correspon-
dent, it may be well to say for the
benefit of those who now are or who
may become possessed Of goods which
were picked up or in any way obtained
from the cargo of the Queen of the Pa
eifc, that pending the final adjust
ment which will take considerable
time and involve general averaging
of the entire cargo, the easiest way is
to go TO MIR. Noyes, the agent of the
o. r. & n. Co., deliver the goods, and
get a receipt for the articles delivered
from him. Should they retain the
goods they would continue to be re-
sponsible and might be placed in an
awkward position, while by getting a
receipt from him they have no re-
sponslbility and stand better chance
of being paid for their trouble than
by retaining that to which they can
establish no legal claim.
The submarine cables to connect
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