Not too sure about that....MARITIME ATTY NEEDED !!
I dont believe it is as simple as "Finders, Keepers". I met a man in Biloxi,Ms that abandoned his boat via Coast Guard Rescue. Hewas having a heart attack while on way to Mexico. His boat was leter reported to be in La. drifting. An oilfield Crew Boat tied it to a buoy and reported to the Coast Guard. Before the Coast Guard could check it out......5 days later - after all, it was only 15 miles out...someone came along and took (salvaged ) the boat. The oil company personnel got the name of the boat that "salvaged" it and again reported it to the Coast Guard. About a month later, the CG finally goes out and looks for the boat at the bouy, that was reported to them 3 weeks earlier as 'taken away'. Anyway, the owner was finally contacted, given all the info and his Insurance Co. then got involved. Apparently, if you 'salvage' the boat, you dont really own the boat, but you are entitled to what is considered a reasonable fee for 'towing' and other expenditures with a maximum $ abount based on a % of the boats value. Anyway, the 'salvage' guy got greedy and wanted 20K, the Ins Co. offered him 10K. Long story after that but it went to court and he got 3K. He actually lost $ if you consider his Atty fes. Point being, you dont necessarily own the boat because you found it. I wouldnt listen to any speculation on here by wanna-be atty's. Maybe there is a Maritime Atty in this group that can shed light on this subject.
I dont believe it is as simple as "Finders, Keepers". I met a man in Biloxi,Ms that abandoned his boat via Coast Guard Rescue. Hewas having a heart attack while on way to Mexico. His boat was leter reported to be in La. drifting. An oilfield Crew Boat tied it to a buoy and reported to the Coast Guard. Before the Coast Guard could check it out......5 days later - after all, it was only 15 miles out...someone came along and took (salvaged ) the boat. The oil company personnel got the name of the boat that "salvaged" it and again reported it to the Coast Guard. About a month later, the CG finally goes out and looks for the boat at the bouy, that was reported to them 3 weeks earlier as 'taken away'. Anyway, the owner was finally contacted, given all the info and his Insurance Co. then got involved. Apparently, if you 'salvage' the boat, you dont really own the boat, but you are entitled to what is considered a reasonable fee for 'towing' and other expenditures with a maximum $ abount based on a % of the boats value. Anyway, the 'salvage' guy got greedy and wanted 20K, the Ins Co. offered him 10K. Long story after that but it went to court and he got 3K. He actually lost $ if you consider his Atty fes. Point being, you dont necessarily own the boat because you found it. I wouldnt listen to any speculation on here by wanna-be atty's. Maybe there is a Maritime Atty in this group that can shed light on this subject.
