Where would someone stand legally if they came across a tender washed up high and dry on a remote rocky head land ?
Can they legally salavage it ?
Do then need to report it ?
It could pose as a navigation hazard if washed back into the water at high tide
Based on past experience it can be taken in hand and then you need to report it to Police
They will run the numbers and determine if there is a report that refers to it as being lost or stolen.
Depending on the outcome actions will be determined.
It may go back to the owner who reported it lost or stolen
It may go to you if no reports and it cannot be identified (after appropriate period of time)
IMHO removing from harms way is reasonable and you cover yourself by reporting it and where has been taken.
What could go wrong.......................
No
Marine salvage is outside of 3nm only.
Anything inside 3nm will be classed as stealing if you take it.
I think you might find that the real legal issues here relate to whether the vessel is in immediate peril or hazard creation, and whether the owner/captain etc has any knowledge of its perilous state and whether or not that person or persons have any intention of seeking to recover the vessel (as opposed to their deliberate abandonment with no intent whatsoever of seeking to recover it in the future). Given that this is admiralty law under international conventions to which Australia ascribes, the location of the vessel in the context of distance from shore is totally immaterial other than in evaluating an escalation of the peril. Now the bottom line - if your own uninsured boat drifted off (not you Aussie 123 but other commentators on this piece), how would you feel about some opportunistic grub claiming 'finder's keepers'. Let's keep Australia great by first thinking about 'helping' rather than 'entitlement'.Originally Posted by Aussie123
Check the Skipper and Gilligan are not building grass huts behind the dune line first!
Then report it to the coppers like any other lost property, no one claims it in 30 days' its yours.
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