Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
Regulating recovery of historic wreck in UK waters: when is a salvor not a salvor?
P.Fletcher-Tomenius * and M.Williams*
Technological innovation has created a surge of important new discoveries of historic wreck sites, and a corresponding increase in commercial enterprises willing to invest in further exploration and salvage. The traditional antagonism between marine archaeologists and salvors has matured into an active debate as to whether historic wreck should be formally removed from the salvage regime. This article questions the current wisdom that primary legislation is necessary in this regard, arguing that the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, s. 243 contain the power to prevent salvage awards in respect of all wrecks of historic interest
Introduction
The recovery of material from wrecks designated as being of historical, archaeological or artistic importance under the Protection of Wrecks Act 19731
must be licensed.2
The intention is to ensure that it is conducted in an archaeologically appropriate manner. However, licensees making such recoveries continue to be treated as salvors within the Merchant Shipping Act 1995,3
thereby giving effect to any possessory rights they may have acquired and conferring entitlement to a salvage award in respect of the recovered material. This continued application of the traditional salvage regime to the underwater cultural heritage has caused considerable disquiet among the archaeological community, which perceives it as giving rise to a number of inappropriate archaeological practices.4
Inevitably, these difficulties have led to a debate within this community as to whether the United Kingdom should follow other European countries in removing the cultural heritage from the ambit of the salvage regime.5
This debate has been strengthened by the recent commitment of English Heritage to press for amendment of MSA 1995 in this respect at
* Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Wolverhampton. The authors are grateful to Professor A. Keay for reading a draft of this article and for his comments thereon. The authors also wish to acknowledge the assistance of Martin Dean, Archaeological Diving Unit, Ms Veronica Robbins, Receiver of Wreck, Ms Olivia Chalwin, Maritime & Coastguard Agency, and Mr Steven Waring, RCHME, for their assistance in the preparation of this article.
1. Herafter “PWA 1973”.
2. S. 1(1), (3).
3. Hereafter “MSA 1995”.
4. See infra,
text to fn. 15.
5. Such a reservation may be made under the International Convention on Salvage 1989, Art. 30, in respect of, inter alia,
maritime cultural property of “pre-historic, archaeological or historic interest…situated on the sea-bed”; the UK has entered a reservation reserving the right to enter such a reservation.
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