The Florence daily tribune., 1899-02-21
SHIPS SAVED AT SEA.
WHAT is MEANT BY SALVAGE" AND
HOW IT is PAID.

underwriters, although the big steam
ship companies insure themselves The
Insurance companies think that board
OF arbitration can more satisfactorily
adjust salsaee claims than can the
courts The word salvage. as defined bv
that celebrated admiralty authority.
Roscoe Is 1.-THE reward which is earned
by those who have Voluntarily saved or
assisted IN saviuea ship or boat or their
apparel OF ANY sort thereof or the lives
- persons at sen or ship, cargo or auy
part thereof from peril or wreck
from total loss. " The last part of the
definition is a trile puzzling.
In Discussing the merits of salvage
cases II must he remembered that there
is no obligation. written or implied,
upon the maslc, or crew of any vessel
TO heed signals uf distress. Public opin.
ION alone eniurcuS the idea that "a call
for help at sea must be oheyod. % The
laws Of salvage are merely framed to
encourage the saving Of life and proper
~ ON the deep There is avarice in the
maIluer AS in landsn en-, and the laws
are made to overcome aud curb these
mercenary ambitious For that reason
a master and his crew csnunt expect
salvage tor saving their own vessel Ii
Is the natural assumption in law. rs
well as IN fact that they must do
everything they eau to preserve their
charge aud under an agreement with
the owners keep it from danger when
ever 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, aud generally does
not Asa rule the bargain is exurbitant
and made at time when the victim
would he willing to guarantee the pay
ment ot millions Tor 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 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-haf in the case of
steamers The owners of the salving
craft, whose money was wasted by de-
lay, wear aud tear, are of course en-
titled to the bigger piece of the plum.
The master of the salvor gets about
twice the sum that his mate receives.
and the mate is paid something like
double the amount Of each sailor
Should the latter have been mem
ber of lifehoat crew used in running
hawsers or in going aboard as a prize
crew 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 abandoned vessel
there is peculiar law as applied to
ownership. No matter where the dere-
lict be found ard tuwed or assisted in
by 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
no effort has been made by them to re-
cover her 1t sounds peculiar to the
average mariner, but it's the law.
To make 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 If the mariner or ether encoun-
ters 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 viii ue awarded him, although the
vessel is mainly preserved by other
means.
The longest time that any one steam
er has been at sea with disabled ma
chineIy before reaching port was ~
days This was the United States cor
vette lroquois in 1890 She was bound
TO Samoa from Honolulu, and had only
seven days raliuns left when port was
reached In 1897 the steamer lndralema
was tuwud into ST Thun as after hay
ing been at sea for - days. The Glas-
Cow steamer Strathuess, after drifting
50 days out Of the range OF steamers,
was towed into st. Michael's in .Ianu-
aty, 1891. by Che British steamer Han
nab VI Bell Another StraIh, the
Strathnevis, driftcd helplessly ON the
Pacific for two months and over in
1875, and was finally towed into Puget
sound The Disptach III 1864 was out
81 days with crippled machinery, and
four years ago the British cruiser Ca
lypso broke down , 900 miles from port
aud sailed IN unaided. much to the de
light OF the dwiudling band OF naval
experts WHO maintain that every war
ship ought TO be- provided with ample
sail power
The owners OF those ships that were
Obliged to DRIFT for weeks, and III sew
eril cases tor months, would not have
found fault with the question of salvage
had a helping hand come along-at
least there would have been no com
plant Just then New York Mail and
Express