Opinion ID: 497956
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: taking the plunge

Text: 28 As we plunge into the merits of the appeal, we must first acknowledge that there is a generic question as to when the law of finds--the ancient and honorable principle of finders, keepers--applies to property retrieved from the ocean floor, and when the law of salvage pertains. Yet, in cases where (1) articles have been presumptively abandoned, i.e., either affirmatively renounced, or so long lost that time can be presumed to have eroded any realistic claim of original title, and (2) those articles are now in hand, having been actually recovered, the better-reasoned authorities agree that the law of finds may appropriately be utilized. E.g., Klein v. Unidentified Wrecked and Abandoned Sailing Vessel, 758 F.2d 1511, 1514 (11th Cir.1985); Treasure Salvors III, 640 F.2d at 567; Chance v. Certain Artifacts Found and Salvaged from the Nashville, 606 F.Supp. 801, 804 (S.D.Ga.1984), aff'd mem., 775 F.2d 302 (11th Cir.1985); Wiggins v. 1100 Tons, More or Less, of Italian Marble, 186 F.Supp. 452, 456 (E.D.Va.1960). Without question, the Republic and its cargo had been long forsaken when discovered by Mavis and thereafter called to Marshallton's attention. After petitioner brought its action in rem in the district court, no person or firm appeared to assert any overall claim of ownership. And the intervenor had found the property and transported it to the court for the purpose of establishing its title. In such circumstances, given the passage of so many decades after the sinking, we think the district court did not err in deciding to apply the law of finds. 29 Nor can the district court be faulted for its further determination that Marshallton--the first finder lawfully to appropriate the abandoned artifacts, take dominion over them, and return them to land with the aim of acquiring ownership rights--had the prime claim to the articles. See Treasure Salvors III, 640 F.2d at 571; Treasure Salvors, Inc. v. Unidentified Wrecked and Abandoned Sailing Vessel, 569 F.2d 330, 337 & nn. 11-12 (5th Cir.1978) (Treasure Salvors I ); Chance, 606 F.Supp. at 804; Rickard v. Pringle, 293 F.Supp. 981, 984 (E.D.N.Y.1968); cf. Klein, 758 F.2d at 1514 (recognizing principle, but discussing exception where wreck embedded in soil owned by third party). See also 3A M. Norris, Benedict on Admiralty: The Law of Salvage, Sec. 158 at 11-14 (7th ed. 1983). But, possession alone is not enough; if it were, buccaneering would again flourish on the high seas. The finder must have gained possession of the treasure fairly and by lawful means. 30 Although Mavis has structured its appellate brief to take four swipes at appellee's claim of title, we believe that these expostulations overlap considerably. Thus, we boil the petitioner's arguments down to a pair, and address each in turn. 31 A. The COLREGS. Mavis has consistently charged that, because the Twin Drill anchored in a TSS while salvaging the wreck, the COLREGS were violated. 5 Accordingly, appellant protests that the intervenor came into possession of the artifacts only by breaking the law and, in the bargain, transgressing the conditions of the very decree which permitted it to conduct a salvage effort at all. (The district court's April 16 order, it will be recalled, allowed Marshallton to proceed only in compliance with any applicable law and regulations.) Mavis views the entire recovery exercise as comprising nothing more than the spoiled fruits of an unlawful adventure. Because of this, petitioner's thesis runs, Marshallton, though the finder of the artifacts, had no right to retain them. The district court rejected this proposition. So do we. 32 The reefs which mar the petitioner's course are many and jagged. In the first place, as a matter of federal law, the COLREGS had no bearing on this sortie. As the Act makes plain, the COLREGS, with certain limited exceptions not germane here: 33 ... shall be applicable to, and shall be complied with by-- 34 (1) all vessels, public and private, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, while upon the high seas or in waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing vessels, and 35 (2) all other vessels when on waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. 36 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1603 (1978) (emphasis supplied). 37 Although Mavis argues passionately that the Twin Drill was within the reach of the COLREGS, the facts and the law point unerringly to an opposite conclusion. Petitioner concedes that the Republic went down on the high seas, in waters not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The salvage vessel, The Twin Drill, was of Panamanian registry. This excluded her, while in international waters, from the sweep of 33 U.S.C. Sec. 1603(1). The language of the statute--vessels, public and private, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States--is, we think, perfectly clear. It necessarily refers to ships of American registry. 6 And, such a reading of the law comports with the established tenet that a vessel on the high seas is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the nation under whose flag she sails. United States v. Green, 671 F.2d 46, 49 (1st Cir.) (footnote omitted), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1135, 102 S.Ct. 2962, 73 L.Ed.2d 1352 (1982). See also Lauritzen v. Larsen, 345 U.S. 571, 585, 73 S.Ct. 921, 929, 97 L.Ed. 1254 (1953); United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Dec. 10, 1982, art. 92(1), 21 I.L.M. 1261 (1982); 1958 Convention on the High Seas, opened for signature April 29, 1958, art. 6(1), 13 U.S.T. 2312, T.I.A.S. No. 5200, 450 U.N.T.S. 82 (entered into force Sept. 30, 1962) (Ships shall sail under the flag of one State only and ... shall be subject to its exclusive jurisdiction on the high seas.). 38 Once it is recognized that the COLREGS, as a matter of federal law, had no pertinence to the actions of the Twin Drill, then the linchpin of Mavis's entire argument crumples. Panama--the flag state--was notified of the anticipated incursion into the TSS in May 1986, and expressed no concern. The appropriate Panamanian agency--the Directorate of Consular and Maritime Affairs (DCMA)--noted the elaborate steps which Marshallton had taken to alert seafarers and other affected parties to the temporary obstruction of the TSS. Given these efforts, and what it perceived as the worthy purpose of the mission, DCMA expressed the belief that the grounds were sufficiently valid to warrant permitting the vessel to drop anchor as planned, TSS or no. Thus, the Twin Drill --and derivatively, Marshallton--was in full compliance with United States law and with foreign (Panamanian) law. 7 39 Nothing further is required on this point. The same district judge who imposed the compliance-with-applicable-law condition heard the evidence and concluded that mooring the Twin Drill in a TSS was, the COLREGS notwithstanding, insufficient reason to keep Marshallton from securing title. We have noted before the special role played by the writing judge in elucidating the meaning and intendment of an order which he authored. See Lefkowitz v. Fair, 816 F.2d 17, 22 (1st Cir.1987); Advance Financial Corp. v. Isla Rica Sales, Inc., 747 F.2d 21, 26 & n. 10 (1st Cir.1984). Under the unique circumstances of this case, there is no reason to believe that the district court abused its discretion in declining to impose a forfeiture on the intervenor. 8 40 B. Good Faith. Mavis contends that, when a salvor comes before an admiralty court seeking to keep booty it has found, the tribunal must examine into the salvor's conduct. The good faith, candor, and probity of the salvor, or the lack of those qualities, petitioner asserts, should influence judicial oversight. See, e.g., Hener, 525 F.Supp. at 358 (misconduct jeopardizes [one's] status as salvor and the recovery to which he would otherwise be entitled); Rickard, 293 F.Supp. at 984-85 (similar). Inasmuch as maritime law, in Mavis's view, requires the most scrupulous behavior on the part of salvors, The Barque Island City, 66 U.S. (1 Black) 121, 130, 17 L.Ed. 70 (1861), Marshallton--which petitioner believes conducted itself poorly--failed to meet this nonpareil standard and should not be rewarded by title to the artifacts. 41 Insofar as this argument rests on the intervenor's actions with respect to the COLREGS, it has no merit. Because the Coast Guard had no jurisdiction over either the Twin Drill or the site, see supra Part III-A, Marshallton cannot be faulted for proceeding without some sort of (ultimately meaningless) permission from that agency. 9 And, the suggestion that the intervenor should be taken to task for endangerment of international maritime traffic is simply unproven. Whatever theoretical hazard may have been presented by anchoring in a TSS, there was no evidence that any person or property was actually placed in jeopardy. 42 Insofar as Mavis casts its net to catch a broader array of equities--suggesting, for example, that the court gave too little weight to its contribution to the find--the asseveration is untimely. At the district court hearing on Marshallton's motion to secure title to the artifacts, Mavis relied entirely on the ostensible breach of the COLREGS to justify its opposition. No mention was made of a superior entitlement supposedly inuring to petitioner because of its role in the discovery. The argosy is now too far along to surface new matters. In the absence of extraordinary circumstances, ... we have regularly declined to consider points which were not seasonably advanced below. Clauson v. Smith, 823 F.2d 660, 666 (1st Cir.1987) (collecting representative First Circuit caselaw). Having sailed into--and out of--the district court under the (now shredded) banner of the COLREGS, it is too late in the day for [petitioner] to put into an appellate port flying fresh, untested colors. Id.