48 INTERNATIONAL ANDNATIONAL LAWSRELATING TOARCHAEOLOGYUNDERWATER
underwater cultural heritage that is recovered in inter-
national waters by French vessels, or by French nationals,
and subsequently landed in France will not be subject
to salvage law.
OWNERSHIP OF UNDERWATER CULTURAL
HERITAGE
Salvage law does not affect ownership rights in any prop-
erty. The salvor does not become owner of the salvaged
property and is considered to have saved the property
and to be holding the property for the true owner.
However, problems arise when the owner either expressly
abandons all property rights or the owner cannot be
established. In the case of very old vessels, it may be that
the owner is deemed to have abandoned all property
rights in the vessel because the owner has done nothing
during that period to assert continued rights of owner-
ship. A further problem arises when the vessel is
owned by a state rather than by a private individual.
International law is not clear with regard to a number
of these problems, and states have adopted different
approaches to dealing with them.
ABANDONMENT OF OWNERSHIP
State-owned vessels: International lawyers generally
agree that a state will only be regarded as having aban-
doned ownership of a vessel when the state clearly and
expressly does so. Abandonment cannot be inferred from
the circumstances. As such, any project that might be
undertaken on a state-owned vessel should be regarded
as still being owned by the state. States have continually
claimed ownership of vessels sunk in international waters
or in the territorial waters of other states. For example,
the wreck of the CSS Alabama, sunk in 1864 off the coast
of Cherbourg, France, was claimed by the government
of the United States, while the French government has
claimed ownership of La Belle, which sank in 1686 off
the coast of Matagorda Bay, Texas. Not all states, however,
readily accept this rule of international law.
Privately owned vessels: While abandonment of owner-
ship of a privately owned vessel can be made through
a clear and express declaration to that effect, it may
also be lost if, considering all the factors, it would be
reasonable to imply that the owner had abandoned
ownership. Factors that might support an implication
of such an abandonment of ownership could include the
passage of time, inactivity on the part of the owner to
undertake salvage operations, or destroying documentary
proof of ownership.
Acquisition of ownership after abandonment: Where
the owner is deemed to have abandoned ownership, either
the state or the finder will acquire ownership.State ownership: Most states claim ownership of ves-
sels that have been abandoned. This occurs both when
the owner has expressly abandoned ownership or when
abandonment can be implied. The time allowed differs
amongst states, as does the point from which this period
is measured. In the UK, the owner has 1 year in which to
claim ownership after a discovery has been reported.
Failure to do so vests title in the Crown. In Spain, the
state claims ownership after 3 years. Alternatively, some
states will only acquire ownership of vessels that are
deemed archaeologically or historically important, effect-
ively applying the law of finds to those that are not.Law of finds: The law of finds is based on the principle
of ‘finders, keepers’. If ownership has been abandoned,
finders are entitled to become owner once they have
taken the property into their possession. The state most
often associated with the law of finds is the United States,
where it has been used as an alternative to salvage law. This
is particularly important in the case of historic wreck where
ownership is difficult to determine.NATIONAL LEGISLATION
While most states’ legislation will only apply to the
state’s territorial waters, some states have extended their
legislation to cover other maritime zones over which they
have some competence, such as the contiguous zone,
exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. Some
legislation, such as the United Kingdom’s (UK) Protection
of Military Remains Act 1986, may also apply to a state’s
nationals and flagged vessels in international waters. Each
state will have a unique legal system and regulate under-
water archaeology differently. There are a number of fea-
tures that one can expect to find in most state legislation.Scope of protection: Some states’ legislation applies
only to historic wreck (US and UK), while others’ applies
to all underwater cultural heritage, including historic
submerged landscapes, such as Palaeolithic sites. In the
case of those which apply only to wrecks, some apply to
all wrecks over a certain age, such as 50 years (South Africa),
75 years (Australia) or 100 years (Republic of Ireland), while
others only apply to wrecks which are deemed to be of
archaeological or historical significance (US and UK).
Some legislation will also apply to all wrecks, irrespective
of ownership, while others, such as the US Abandoned
Shipwreck Act 1987applies, as the name suggests, only to
abandoned shipwrecks.