The Business of Salvage - Boating Safety Information

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The Business of Salvage, what you need to know.

The mere mention of the word Salvage to a boater can trigger a panic attack. Visions of wooden-legged men with eye patches and parrots spring to mind. The Marine Salvage Industry is often called the world's second oldest profession, usually with references to the first.

Ever since men began to think that they could build ships capable of successfully challenging the oceans, salvors have been around to pull those same ships off rocks and to plug holes in their sides. Undaunted by huge waves, storms and imminent danger, salvors have, for centuries, risked their own lives and vessels to save the lives and property of others. All the time working under the tradition of "No cure - No Pay." This means that a salvage team can work for days and, if unsuccessful, receive nothing for its efforts (how nice it would be if everyone had to work under the same premise.) As the tales of daring rescues and heroism by salvors have survived the years so have the controversies.

A salvage company's services are of the type that are imminently more valuable before they are performed than after. Imagine yourself as the owner of a 60' Motor Yacht with a value of two million dollars. You are ten miles offshore in a thousand feet of water. The seas are steep eight to ten footers. Suddenly the yacht hits an object in the water that tears a big hole in her side. The ship's pumps are unable to keep up with the inflow of water. The engine room becomes inundated and all power is lost. You issue a Mayday Call and prepare to abandon ship. Just before your boat begins its journey to visit Davy Jones, a salvage vessel comes along side. A team of professionals jumps aboard with big, gas driven pumps that are strategically placed in the vessel. Once the pumps are in place and running, a patch is fabricated and the inflow of water stopped. Slowly your vessel starts to rise, soon to be bobbing on its waterline as if nothing has happened. The salvage company tows your vessel back to a repair facility where it is hauled out of the water, safe and soon-to-be-sound once again. The whole process takes about three hours.

You call your insurance company with the details. A few days later, your insurance agent calls you back and says that the salvage company has submitted a salvage claim and has a maritime lien on your vessel. "Holy - - - -," say you, blood pressure rising, "That's outrageous. What do you mean they have a lien on my vessel? The bank will go nuts. Those pirates, those thieves." And so on and so forth.

Although your insurance company is handling the matter, you, in your quest for justice, call a Maritime Attorney. After listening to your tirade (and billing you for the time), he calmly says that, considering the circumstances, the salvage claim is a lot less than it could have been, the salvage company is being very reasonable and that you should probably concentrate on getting your boat repaired and leave the claim in the hands of the experts at the insurance company and at the marine surveying company that the insurance company has hired.

Why did he say that? Go on to Part 2 for the answer.

This article was written by Sea Tow Captain Les Hall