WHEN SALVAGE AWARDED. The following, taken from Newson, p. 3, et seq, are instances of salvage services: Supplying in boisterous weather and in a dangerous place an anchor, cable and chain to a vessel which has shipped her anchor, although not otherwise disabled. The Prince of Wales, 6 Notes of Cas. 39; although they are not needed. The Eolus, L. R. 4 A. & E. 29; towing a ship near the shore in unsettled weather after her ground tackle is disabled. The Albion, Lush. 282; towing away one of two ships in collision from the other. The Vandyck, 7 P. D. 42; towing away a vessel in dock from surrounding warehouses on fire. The Tees, Lush. 505; a ship sending on board another ship, short of hands through death or illness, or derelict, some of her own crew to assist in navigating her. The Roe, Swa. 84; in such case not only will the men sent on board be entitled to salvage reward, but also the owners, master, and remainder of the crew of the salving ship. The Charles, L. R. 3 A. & E. 536; in sending a mate on board a ship on the high seas to take the place of a master who is dead. The Janet Mitchell, Swa. 111; in seeking a ship in distress for the purpose of rendering assistance. The Albion, Lush. 282; communicating the fact of salvage services being required. The Ocean, 2 W. Rob. 91; saving lives and property from a ship on fire. The Eastern Monarch, Lush. 81; services of a third vessel in carrying orders from a salving ship. The Undaunted, Lush. 90; raising a sunken ship. The Catherine, 12 Jur. 682; lying alongside a vessel in a gale at her request to assist if needed. The Undaunted, Lush. 90; see also The Philotaxe, 29 L. T. 515; rescuing a ship from being plundered by natives. Lady Worsley, 2 Spinks 253; saving and preserving wreck, services performed on land to a ship or goods rescued from sea perils. The Mary Ann, 1 Hag. 158; recapturing ship or goods from pirates or mutineers. The Trelawney, 3 C. Rob. 216; or from an enemy. Giving information of the position and danger of a vessel in want of assistance will entitle to salvage reward. The Sarah, 3 P. D. 39; see also The Nile, L. R. 4 A. & E. 449; also instructing a ship as to what measures to adopt for her safety. The Eliza, Lush. 536; but merely giving information ast to The locality is not sufficient. The Little Joe, Lush. 88. Success is the main ground on which a salvage reward is given. The Lockwoods, 9 Jur. 1017; to the same effect. The Edward Hawkins, Lush. 516. As a general rule, a mere attempt to save lives or property, however meritorious, or whatever degree of risk or damage may have been incurred, if unsuccessful, furnishes no title to salvage reward. The Zephyrus, 1 W. Rob. 329. In The Undaunted, Lush. 90, it was held that efforts to give assistance under an engagement to a ship in distress will, although the ship receives no benefit from them, be rewarded as being in the nature of salvage services, if the ship is otherwise saved. But where a tug, under a contract to tow another vessel from sea into dock, was able to save the ship from a danger resulting from a mishap to another tug, it was held that as there was no immediate danger to the ship or risk to the tug, there could be no claim for salvage, The Liverpool (1893), P. 154. The conditions required to engraft salvage on to towage are considered in this case. Where salvors enter into an agreement to take a disabled vessel into harbor for a specified sum, and do all in their power to perform their engagement, but in consequence of an adverse change of wind fail to fulfil it, 1888 THE they are nevertheless entitled to salvage reward, per Sir Robert Phillimore, in The Aztecs, 21 ST. CLOUD. L. T. N. S. 797 (1870). The same learned judge still later, in The Nellie, 29 L. T. N. S. 516 (1873), held that where a steamship has been engaged to render assistance to another in distress by towing her to her port of destination, and after several hours' towing the ships were parted by no fault of the salvor, and the conduct of the ship in distress leads the salvor to the honest belief that his services are no longer required, and thereupon the latter proceeds to her own destination, he is not thereby deprived of his right to salvage reward, but upon the other vessel arriving safe in port by her own exertions, may proceed against her in respect of the services actually rendered. The agreement of a master of a ship in distress, as to salvage, will generally be upheld, unless fraud is proved. The Henry, 15 Jur. 183; s. c. 2 Eng. L. & Eq. 564. Where salvors on board a vessel voluntarily abandon her, they forfeit any right they might have to salvage reward. The Killeena, 6 P. D. 193 (1881). Sir Robert Phillimore in this case cites, with approval, the decision in The Undaunted, supra, and the language of Lord Stowell in The Jonge Bastiaan, 5 C. Rob. 324. A steamship was requested by another steamship in distress to 1888 THE stand by her. An agreement was accordingly made between the ST. CLOUD. two masters, for a fixed sum, that the sound vessel would stand by the injured one till she was in a safe position to get to port. The sound vessel remained by the damaged vessel till the latter was about to sink, when she took her crew on board, and the damaged steamer immediately afterwards sank. The owners, master, and crew of the salving ship brought an action for life salvage, but it was held that as no res was saved the action would not lie either as a salvage action simply, or on the agreement. The Renpor, 8 P. D. 115 (1883). At p. 117, Brett, M. R., delivering the judgment of the Court of Appeal, says: "It is said that under some circumstances if life is saved after the services of the salvors have been requested by the master of the ship which is in danger, the shipowner is bound to pay salvage, although there is no res saved, and The Undaunted, Lush. 90, has been cited in support of this proposition. The E. U., 1 Spinks 63, has also been relied on as an authority in favor of it, more especially a dictum of Dr. Lushington, which is to be found in that case. But The Undaunted is really no authority in favor of the plaintiffs' contention, because in that case the ship was saved, and therefore there was a fund from which payment could be made. The question was then raised whether the plaintiffs could be paid out of that fund, and it was decided they could, because they had exerted themselves to save the ship at the request of the master. It is unnecessary for us to say if we agree in that decision, but it in no way broke the fundamental law of the Admiralty Court that something must be saved in order to give valid grounds for a salvage action. The E. U. is a similar case, but there a supposed case is mentioned by Dr. Lushington which is said to support the plaintiffs' contention in the present case. If Dr. Lushington did state this supposed case as containing his view of the law, it is contrary to what he had laid down before, and if it does, with all due respect for his great authority, I am unable to agree with it. But I doubt if it is an exact statement of that learned judge's opinion, and the cases of The Fusilier, Br. & Lush. 350; The Zephyr, 2 Hag. 43, and the Cargo ex Schiller, 2 P. D. 145, are contrary to it, and support the rule that some property must be saved to give rise to a claim for salvage." The learned editors of Williams & Bruce, Ad. Prac. (ed. 1886) p. 119, say of The Renpor that "notwithstanding the very high authority of the learned judge who pronounced this opinion, it is submitted that where a claim in the nature of salvage depends upon a contract arising from an express request, the terms of the contract alone regulate the right to the promised reward, and that in an action in personam it is immaterial whether the property is saved or not, and that there is no good reason why the circumstance that the property has been saved by means unconnected with the efforts of the claimant should have the effect of altering the character of the contract, or of the services rendered under it. Yet so long as the exposition of the law given by the Court of Appeal in the case referred to remains unquestioned by higher authority, the saving of a portion of property by some means must be regarded as a condition precedent to an action for services in the nature of salvage, even though rendered under an express agreement." The same rule obtains in the United States. In The John Wurts, Olcott 462, it was held that an indispensable ingredient of a salvage claim is that the service has contributed immediately to the rescue or preservation of property in peril at sea. See also Cohen's Ad. Law (1883), 39. A moiety of the property saved, with costs, is the maximum of remuneration that can be allowed to salvors; and this rule applies to ViceAdmiralty Courts abroad. It appears, however, that this rule does not obtain in derelict. The Inca, Swa. 370; s. c. 12 Moo. P. C. 189. See also The L'Es SALVAGE OF LIFE. The Admiralty Court prior to 1846 had no jurisdiction to award salvage for the preservation of life alone, but where both property and life were saved, it became the established usage of the Court to give a higher rate of salvage against the property, and in that way indirectly salvors of life were remunerated. The Zephyrus, 1 W. Rob. 331; The Aid, 1 Hag. 84; The Johannes, Lush. 182; The Fusilier, Br. & Lush. 341. Statutory authority however was given to the Court to decree reward for life salvage, under secs. 19 and 21 of 9 & 10 Vict., c. 99, "An Act for consolidating and amending the laws relating to wreck and salvage." This statute has been repealed, but the provisions of the sections are substantially re-enacted by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, secs. 458 and 459, and under the latter section it is provided that salvage for preservation of life shall have priority over all other salvage claims, and in the event of the property salved proving insufficient to meet the claims, the Board of Trade, in its discretion, may meet the claim out 1888 THE of the Mercantile Marine Fund, in whole or in part. See The CoroST. CLOUD. mandel, Swa. 207. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, limited the salvage services in such cases to the "shore of any sea or tidal water situate within the limits of the United Kingdom," but by 24 Vict., c. 10, s. 9, the Admiralty Court Act, 1861, the provisions of the Act of 1854 were extended to the salvage of life from any British ship or boat, wheresoever the services may have been rendered, and from any foreign ship or boat, when the services have been rendered either wholly or in part in British waters; and by 25 & 26 Vict., c. 63, sec. 59, it is provided that "Whenever it is made to appear to Her Majesty that the Government of any foreign country is willing that salvage shall be awarded by British Courts for services rendered in saving life from any ship belonging to such country, when such ship is beyond the limits of British jurisdiction, Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, direct that the provisions of the principal Act, and of this Act, with respect to salvage for services rendered in saving life from British ships shall in all British Courts be held to apply to services rendered in saving life from the ships of such foreign country, whether such services are rendered within British jurisdiction or not." See Maclachlan on Ship. (4th ed.) 654; Newson on Salvage, 46. The Willem III. L. R. 3 A. & E. 487. The owners of a ship or boat will not be liable for life salvage where none of their property is saved. The Cargo ex Sarpedon, 3 P. D. 28. See also The Cargo ex Schiller, 2 P. D. 145; The Renpor, 8 P. D. 115; The Annie, 12 P. D. 50. In the latter case the defendants' vessel, through collision, was sunk in the Thames by the fault of another vessel. The Conservators of the Thames, under the statutory authority given them by 20 & 21 Vict., c. 147, s. 86, raised the wreck and sold it; the proceeds were insufficient to defray the expenses, and under sec. 86 the Conservators recovered the deficiency from the defendants. An action for life salvage was instituted against the defendants' vessel, but it was held that the salvors could not recover, as no property was saved. Sir James Hannen, in delivering judgment, said: "I feel no doubt as to this case. There can be no claim for salvage services against a person; something must be saved to which the claim can attach. In the present case The Annie was not saved; yet those who claim salvage do so in respect of a life salvage service." In the American Admiralty it has been held that there is no salvage for saving life alone, but saving life |