Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
IS THERE A RIGHT TO WRECK?
K. S. Goddard
Lecturer in Law, University of Exeter.
On New Year’s Eve 1982 the 960-ton Panamanian-registered vessel Johanna was holed by rocks off Hartland Point, North Devon. At the time she was on a voyage from Rotterdam to Barry in South Wales, laden with a cargo of wheat. Four members of the crew were lifted off the Johanna and brought to safety by helicopter; the master and two other members of the crew were taken off by lifeboat.1 During the ensuing weekend a considerable number of people boarded the stranded ship; they removed electronic equipment, deck gear, navigation lights, clothing left by the crew, freezers, washing machines and food,2 despite attempts by the master, who had returned to his ship, to prevent the removal of these moveable valuables.3 It was estimated that, in total, articles approaching £200,000 in value were ultimately stripped from the stricken vessel.4
One of the people who removed property from the Johanna was reported as saying:5
“the tradition as far as getting what you can is concerned still lives on. We call it going wrecking. There are not many people along the North Coast of Cornwall and Devon who see much wrong with it”.
Newspaper reports also indicated that people involved in the removal of equipment from the ship believed that she had been abandoned,6 and consequently that they had a right to take the property.
The events on board the Johanna raise a number of serious issues, the first of these being whether property comprised in a maritime casualty may legally be removed by third parties, and if not, whether taking away property in such circumstances constitutes a criminal offence or gives rise to a civil action. The answer to this question depends, in part, on the legal classification of the shipwrecked property.
At common law property involved in a maritime accident may constitute either wreck, flotsam, jetsam, lagan or derelict. “Wreck” is limited to those portions of the ship and cargo which have been cast by the sea on to the land.7 Flotsam, jetsam and lagan were defined by Sir Henry Constable’s case
8 as follows:
1 The Daily Telegraph, 3rd January 1983.
2 The Daily Telegraph, 3rd, 4th and 5th January 1983. The Times, 4th January 1983.
3 The Daily Telegraph, 4th January 1983.
4 The Daily Telegraph, 5th January 1983.
5 The Daily Telegraph, 3rd January 1983.
6 The Times, 4th and 5th January 1983.
7 Sir Henry Constable’s case. (1601) 5 Coke 106. R. v. Forty-nine Casks of Brandy (1836) 3 Hagg Ad. 257. Abbott’s Law of Merchant Ships & Seamen, p. 994. Kennedy on Civil Salvage, pp. 385, 386.
8 Supra.
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