The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-03-10
SHIPS SAVED AT SEA,
WHAT IS MEANT BY "sALvAGE" AND
HOW IT 10 PAID.

There In No Law That Signals of Dis-
tress Mt Sea Must BE Heeded-Pub.
lie Opinion Alone Enforces Re-
sponsor to Calls For Help.
Salvage on ships saved at sea by 9th
ers in the majority Of cases is paid by the
underwriters, although the big steam
ship companies insure themselves. The
insurance companies think that a board
of arbitration can more satisfactorily
adjust salvage claims than can the
courts. The word salvage, as defined by
that celebrated admiralty authority,
Roscoe. is "the reward which is earned
by those who have Voluntarily saved or
assisted in saving a ship OF boat or their
apparel or any sort thereof or the lives
Of persons at sea OF a ship, cargo or any
part thereof, from peril or a wreck
from total loss" The last part of the
definition is q trife puzzIing.
In discussing the merits Of salvage
cases it must be remembered that there
10 no obligation, written or implied,
upon the master or crew of any vessel
to heed signals Of distress. Public opin-
ion alone eDforoes the idea that "a call
tor help at sea must be ~obeyed." The
laws Of salvage are merely framed to
encourage the saving of life and proper
~ on the deep. There is avarice in the
mariner as in landsmen, and the laws
are made to overcome and curb these
mercenary ambitions. For that reason
q master and his crew cannot expect
salvage for saving their own vessel. 1t
is the natural assumption in law, as
we'll as in fact, that they must do
everything they can to preserve their
charge and under an agreement with
the owners keep it from danger when
' possible.
In salvage one of the first laws is that
the peril must be actual. The bargain
made in time Of danger by the master
or agent Of the imperiled craft with an
other volunteering aid need not OF neces-
sity hold in court, and generally does
not. Asa rule the bargain is exorbitant
and made at q time when the victim
would be willing to guarantee the pay
ment Of millions for proffered assist
ance. This point has been decided hun
dreds Of times, the courts taking the
stand that the peril made an exor-
bitant bargain necessary.
AS a general thing, the salvage award
is equal to about one-third the value in
the case of sailing craft and from
one-third to one-half in the case of
steamers. The owners of the salving
craft, whose money was wasted by de-
lay, wear and tear, are of course en-
titled to the bigger piece Of the plum.
The master Of the salvor gets about
twice the sun that his mate receives,
and the mate is paid something like
double the amount of each sailor.
Should the latter have been a mem
Der Of a lifehoat crew used in running
hawsers or in going aboard as a prize
he and his mates are entitled to |
an extra compensation. Naval officers
cannot claim salvage when the work
accomplished is in the direct line of
their duty.
In the case of a abandoned vessel
there is a peculiar law as applied to
ownership. No matter where the dere-
lict be found and towed or assisted in
by q prize crew or otherwise the court
holds that she is still the property of
her original owners, although abandon
ed by her crew, their agents, and that
effort has been made by them to re-
cover her. 1t sounds peculiar to the
average mariner, hut it's the law.
To make a successful salvage claim it
is necessary that the property must be
actually saved and saved by those claim.
ing to be. ~salvors. In other words. the
salvage services must be rendered by
persons not bound by contract to render
them. It the mariner or other encoun-
the danger or misfortune or dam
age which might possibly expose the
ship to destruction unless assistance is
rendered and does all he can to save the
vessel, and his services tend in some de-
gree to save or preserve her, compensa-
ton will be awarded him, although the
vessel is mainly preserved by other
The longest time that any one steam
Or has been at sea with disabled ma
chinery before reaching port was n
days. This war the United States cor
vette Iroquois in 1890. She was bound
Samoa from Honolulu, and had only
days rations. left when port was
In 1907 the steamer Indralema
was towed into st. Thomas after hav-
been at sea for ~ days. The Glas-
Cow steamer Strathness, after drifting
30 days out Of the range of steamers,
towed into st. Michael's in Janu-
ary, 1897, by the British steamer Han
nab M. Bell. Another Strath, the
5trathnevis, drifted helplessly on the
Pacific for two months and owe in
1895, and was finally towed into Puget
sound. The Disptach in 1864 was out
days with crippled machinery, and
four years ago the British cruiser Ca
|ypso broke down {, 900 miles from port
and sailed in unaided, much to the de
light OF the dwindling band of naval
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