"British Salvage Law and the Presence of a Surviving Crew?" Topic

I'm working on an SF story involving a damaged and wrecked vehicle on a British-colonized planet (not Earth). The vehicle has a surviving owner/crewman who has remained with the wreck. The planet itself is not habitable outside of vehicles and sealed habitats, so it is definitely a hazarodous effort to retrieve the wrecked vehicle. It seems to me that salvage laws would guide the legal considerations in such an incident. What I'm curious about is how or if the presence of a surviving owner or crewman on board a salvaged vessel has any implications in British law on the question of salvage? Or is the state of being a wrecked vessel sufficient? What if the vessel is not necessarily in further peril (i.e., nothing more is likely to happen to damage it or its cargo), essentially allowing for its recovery at any time? Would the non-contractual retrievement of the vessel still count as salvage?
As this is obviously a science fiction piece in a future setting, I can of course "tweak" the laws to fit what I think is appropriate, but understanding the current base concepts and principles would certainly help.
My main concern therefore lies in the state of the vessel not being abandoned at the time of the arrival of any potential salvagers.
Any help would be appreciated!

Surviving crew means it's not salvage, end of discussion.

Rescue is usually done out of pocket, though sometimes there are insurance payments made to those assisting.

You might have already seen this but here is a website on it.

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One little item is good for a campaing, to enter a vessel without the captain's (or whoever is in charge) consent is a crime…

Another item that may be of interest is one of the incidents in a Master and Commander story. They came upon a British vessel captured by the French and they waited a couple hours before setting foot on it. To do so sooner would have meant it was rescue of a British/Allied ship rather then capturing an enemy vessel.

Please reference Aliens opening scenes.

Please reference Aliens opening scenes.

I was going to say, good enough for me. ;->=

Of course, in most games I know, 'Why no, officer, I didn't shoot them. Honest, they were dead already. What is this lividity of which you speak?'

Doug

That scene is in 'The Mauritius Command' – since the ship was retaken more than 24 hours after its original capture, it was salvage and Jack's crew received an 8th of its value. If it had been retaken within 24 hours, it wouldn't have been salvage, and there would have no guaranteed monetary reward.

I can see the report now.

"All crewman perished, due to the harsh environmental conditions…..".

its a shame really….

cj cherryh's Heavy Time starts with a rescue/salvage

one of the rescuers argues that even though there is a surviving crew member
"he is crazy and 'not in control' of the ship"

his partner disagrees
they also have an argument about offing the survivor as well

I can see the report now.

"All crewman perished, due to the harsh environmental conditions…"

If you have live and secure datalogging (which I would assume for salvors and explorers), that becomes much more difficult to accomplish.

I would point out that there wasn't even a discussion about "offing" Ripley at the start of Aliens.

Thanks for the responses, all.

No "offing" happening in this story. Not the way I'm going with it, and just not likely in my setting or scenario. It's a survival story more than any human conflict. But the salvage question becomes a motivating issue for what my hero chooses to do (or not do), so I'm plotting around it. I'm familiar with the "surviving crew" element in fiction, but I like to get my background elements right; relying on a Hollywood film doesn't cut it for that!

Sadly, the video-data records were destroyed by a high-velocity, micro-meteorite strike.

Please note, my humor was as to the games, in particular some of the gamers, who would play characters bloodthirsty enough.

Murder of actual helpless survivors is in no way humorous. Truly, hanging IS too good.

Doug

I doubt anybody here would assume that you were advocating murdering survivors so that they could get a salvage….well most people wouldn't assume that.

Murder of actual helpless survivors is in no way humorous. Truly, hanging IS too good.

The sea is far too unforgiving to not attempt a rescue.

Been there, done that. Don't want a t-shirt. My sub was off San Francisco Bay when we heard a call from someone saying their sailboat was on fire and taking on water. We weren't even on the surface, just cruising along at periscope depth with a bridge-to-bridge radio in the Control Room. We made the turn to assist before we heard that the Coasties were en route and closer than we were. Had we been closer, I'm pretty sure we would have scared the out of that sailboat crew when a 560-ft submarine came in to assist.

There is a word for those that kill survivors to get the "salvage": Pirate.

And I tend to break out ye olde Rocks and Shoals, aka the US Navy Regs of the 1850s, which specifies that Pirates are to be hanged by the neck until dead. I honestly prefer shark chow, though.

Lloyds Open Form.
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