Evening star., 1898-12-24

salvage, which perplexed a generation Of
lawyers.
Salvage-the money paid for rescuing
ships and their cargoes-is probably the
most difficult question to decide equitably
that comes before courts. The decisions
are remarkable and altogether startling
in their variety to layman with an idea
of infallibility of law courts, and even the
general principles remain unsettled
For instance, 1t is held by one judge that
salvage should be paid only when a ship
is saved from certain danger: another says
that any assistance in getting a disabled
ship to port entities to salvage rather than
the less expensive towage.
Inc percentage allowed to salvors rises
from 10 to 80, and in some cases. where
the value of the wreck was small and the
service arduous, practically the whole of
the rescued cargo and the ship are made
over to the SalvorS,
A Celebrated Case,
Something like this happened last spring
in the celebrated case of the Lamington, a
British steamship that stranded on the
Long Island coast. Tugs pulled her off
and she was finally sold in New York, a
badly battered wreck, for s175Oo. The
district court gave the entire ship and
cargo to her saIvors, but the court of ap-
peais decided that in every case there
should be margin for the owner of lost
ship, and awarded 30 per cent
In the old days. before steamships and
Wrecking tugs the only salvage that was
made was by resciing scargoes either be-
fore or after the Ship went to pieces or
vessels. and when q ship once went ashore
she was doomed, aid raising a wreck was
of course dreamed of no more than glueing
one together after she, broke UP. Now
and along our seacoasts and on the waters
OF our great lakes and rivers wrecking
companies are ready tofundertake to raise
or pull anything from rowboat to a man
of-War. - III
The most celebrated salvage case in
American history was that of the Thetis
an English war vessel that sank off the
Brazilian coast, with ssf0, 900 worth of bull
lion on board. For months three sloops of
war were anchored at the spot and their
crews recovered sT5O,00e by diving. One
third-that is, $2JO,0bo-was divided as sal
wage between the officers and men.
Awarding salvage.
The courts, in awarding salvage, do not
make a distinction between work done by
Wrecking companies and that of passing
ship which happens to be in the neighbor-
mood OF a wreck and assists in bringing it
to port But, broadly speaking, all cases
Where ship has been saved as well as it's
cargo may be classed under one of these
TWO heads AS many more vessels are
wrecked by being driven on shore, the num-
per OF instances of salvage by wrecking
companies is greater than where a ship is
disa bled at sea and towed to port by a
passing steamer, though as a rule the
pfohts in the latter case are greater in pro-
portion to the work done. An instance of
handsome profits made in this way was the
rescue of the L. f. Oakes a large shin
bound for New York from Hong Kong. Her
crew got Ill with the scurvy, and when she
was 300 miles from port there was nobody
aboard to work the ship. She asked the
steamship kasbek for. assistance, and for
towing her this short distance the courts
allowed Sl9,ooo salvage. 1t is not usual for
vessel to make contract before aiding
another in distress, but sometimes masters
try to drive sharp bargains, as the captain
of the Sirius was obliged to make when his
vessel broke her propeller and part of her
shaft and was anchored in a dangerous
position off the coast of Lower California.
His ship and cargo were valued at about
S115,Oc0 and he agreed to pay $4,000 to get
place of safety. The court decided that
$4,000 was enough for the service. No con-
tracts for exorbtant salvage are binding.
rms rule never changes: When the regu-
lar wrecking boats undertake to save
ship contract Is usually made beforehand
and this is less likely to be contract un-
der compulsion because there are several
companies to bargain with, but not long
ago the ship Jessamene ran on the rocks
near the Golden Gate and the master
agreed M to pay the wrecking tug Relief $12.
but the courts called the sum excessive and
awarded $4,000. Likewise when the tugs
Alert, Relief and Release, maintained at an
expense of 81 500 per month, saved the Don
carlos, ship worth, cargo and all, about
$4,000, the contract called for $12 600, but
only $500 was allowed This seems like a
fairly good price for three hours work
Sailors Get a Share.
The salvage that a ship makes does not
all go to the owners and for sailor that Is
the most interesting thing about it. Indeed,
salvage is the sailors dream and q derelict
his gold mine. When the Sirius, mentioned
above, was saved, the rescuing crew got
was made, as>is ustai. according to wages
and service in the salving. La Champagne,
which was towed into Halifax last March
by the Roman. paid f15.OOO pounds salvage,
and the owners Of the Roman got f12 600
OF this, the master f1,OOO, and f2.O0O were
divided among the =.f1ftK.thrse members Of
tns Tne eFsT; wreek,ns cop Ell have soec,a, con-
tracts with their q Tvs nd as rule there
Is ful only WSrs slight incsess pay for success
that of the Amerid] u j er st. Paul. which
was aground off a rsey coast. The
counsnE cour.s nave We. 3ust d that & the w Iwreckng
eleven days work. II
How XiEerks.
A lucky bit of rkseas the finding of
L'Amerique. stdkmstp that had been
abandoned withouttapy real cause Her
value was about $hbG0 ,000 and 500 ~, was
awarded for few hours towing. The first
award was $500 A similar case was
that OF the Giengyle, which was abandoned
and brought to London by her salvors
They got f19 500. La France, which towed
the Veendam for three days until she could
repair her shaft, was awarded $500, and
the tug that tewed the disabled Charles
Wetmore for one night and got her over the
bar Of the Columbia river was paid $40 600.
This was dangerous work, however and the
got 5000.
The tug. that found the derelict Calvin
8. Edwards, made SGD, q nice. thing out of
one nights work, and perhaps the iuckiest
Of all was the tug That recently picked up
five scows in the Hariem river and in less
than an hoar made $3.50: A good deal Of
salvage money has been made on the
Florida coast, and the best known case u