Marine salvage

Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime
casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, lifting a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship.[1] Salvors
are normally paid for their efforts.[1] However, protecting the coastal environment from oil spillages
or other contaminants from a modern ship can also be a motivator, as oil, cargo, and other
pollutants can easily leak from a wreck and in these instances, governments or authorities may
organise the salvage.[2]

Marine salvage of a fishing boat off the

coast of Estonia in 1973. Photo by Jaan
Künnap

Before the invention of radio, salvage services would be given to a stricken vessel by any passing
ship. Today, most salvage is carried out by specialist salvage firms with dedicated crews and
equipment.[3] The legal significance of salvage is that a successful salvor[notes 1] is entitled to a
reward, which is a proportion of the total value of the ship and its cargo. The bounty is determined
subsequently at a "hearing on the merits" by a maritime court in accordance with Articles 13 and 14
of the International Salvage Convention of 1989.[4] The common law concept of salvage was
established by the English Admiralty Court and is defined as "a voluntary successful service
provided in order to save maritime property in danger at sea, entitling the salvor to a reward"; this
definition has been further refined by the 1989 Convention.[4]

Originally, a "successful" salvage was one where at least part of the ship or cargo was saved;
otherwise, the principle of "No Cure, No Pay" meant that the salvor would get nothing. In the 1970s,
a number of marine casualties of single-skin-hull tankers led to serious oil spills. Such casualties
were discouraging to salvors, so the Lloyd's Open Form (LOF) made provision that a salvor who
attempts to prevent environmental damage will be paid, even if unsuccessful. This Lloyd's initiative
was later incorporated into the 1989 Convention.
All vessels have an international duty to give reasonable assistance to other ships in distress to
save lives, but there is no obligation to try to save the vessel. Any offer of salvage assistance may
be refused; if it is accepted, a contract automatically arises to give the successful salvor the right to
a reward under the 1989 Convention. Typically, the ship and salvor will sign up to an LOF agreement
so that the terms of salvage are clear. Since 2000, it has become standard to append a SCOPIC
("Special Compensation – P&I Clubs") clause to the LOF to ensure that a salvor does not abuse the
aforementioned environmental policy stated in the 1989 Convention (pursuant to the case of The
Nagasaki Spirit).[5]

The techniques applied in marine salvage are largely a matter of adapting available materials and
equipment to the situation, which are often constrained by urgencies, weather and sea conditions,
site accessibility, and financial considerations. Diving is slow, labour-intensive, dangerous,
expensive, constrained by conditions, and often inefficient, but may be the only, or most efficient,
way to do some tasks needed to complete the salvage job.[6]: Ch. 4 Salvage work includes towing an
abandoned or disabled vessel which is still afloat to safety, assisting in fighting a fire on board
another vessel, refloating sunk or stranded vessels, righting a capsized vessel, recovering the cargo,
stores, or equipment from a wreck, or demolishing it in place for scrap. The work may be done for
profit, clearing a blocked shipping lane or harbour, or for preventing or limiting environmental
damage.

Types

USS Regulus hard aground in 1971 due to a

typhoon: after three weeks of effort, Naval
salvors deemed it unsalvageable.

Marine salvage takes many forms, and may involve anything from refloating a ship that has gone
aground or sunk as well as necessary work to prevent loss of the vessel, such as pumping water out
of a ship to keep it afloat, or extinguishing fires on board, to clearing wreckage to remove
navigational or ecological hazards, or recovery of cargo, fuel, stores, equipment, or scrap metal.[7]
Contract salvage

In contract salvage the owner of the property and salvor enter into a salvage contract prior to the
commencement of salvage operations and the amount that the salvor is paid is determined by the
contract. This can be a fixed amount, based on a "time and materials" basis, or any other terms that
both parties agree to. The contract may also state that payment is only due if the salvage operation
is successful (a.k.a. "No Cure, No Pay"),[8] or that payment is due even if the operation fails. An
example of a contract salvage is Lloyd's Standard Form of Salvage Agreement (2011, superseded in
2020), an English law arbitration agreement administered by the Council of Lloyd's, London.[9][10][11]

A ship that has broken down but is not in immediate danger is usually in a position to negotiate
terms and may request to be towed to a safe haven on a commercial hire basis rather than in terms
of a Lloyds Open Form.[7]

If the casualty appears to be beyond salvage or at a high risk of sinking, breaking up, burning out or
otherwise becoming uneconomical to salvage on a LOF, the salvage operator may change the
contract from LOF to SCOPIC, which stipulates that all costs plus a reasonable profit are paid to the
salvage operator by the casualty’s insurers.[7]

If the salvage operator is unable to salvage the vessel, they or a different salvage contractor may be
requested to remain on site to help manage the risk of pollution or decrease the damage.[7]

Pure salvage

In the United States, in pure salvage (also called merit salvage), there is no contract between the
owner of the goods and the salvor. The relationship is one implied by law; the salvor of property
under pure salvage must bring his claim for salvage in a court which has jurisdiction, and this will
award salvage based upon the "merit" of the service as well as the value of the property itself.[12]

Pure salvage claims are classified as "high-order" and "low-order" salvage. In high-order salvage, the
salvor exposes their crew to risk of injury, and their equipment to damage or loss to salvage the
property that is in peril. Examples of high-order salvage are boarding a sinking ship in heavy
weather, boarding a ship which is on fire, raising a ship, plane, or other sunken property, or towing a
ship which is in the surf away from the shore. In low-order salvage, the salvor is exposed to little or
no personal risk. Examples of low-order salvage include towing another vessel in calm seas,
supplying a vessel with fuel, or pulling a vessel off a sand bar. Salvors performing high-order
salvage receive substantially greater rewards than those performing low-order salvage.[13]
In order for a claim to be awarded, three requirements must be met: The property must be in peril,
the service must be rendered voluntarily, and the salvage must be successful in whole or in part.[12]

There are several factors the court uses to determine the salvor's amount. Some of these include
the difficulty of the task, the risk involved to the salvor, the value of the property saved, the degree of
danger to which the property was exposed, and the potential environmental impacts. Rarely, the
salvage award would be greater than 50 percent of the salvaged property's value. Usually, salvage
awards amount to 10–25% of the value of the property.[12]

Naval salvage

USNS Grapple, an example of a modern

naval rescue salvage ship

Several navies have rescue and salvage vessels to support their fleet and serve distressed vehicles.
In addition, they may have Deep Salvage Units. US Navy salvage facilities and operations are
coordinated by the Supervisor of Salvage (SUPSALV), situated in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Virginia,
Spain, Bahrain, Singapore, and Japan.[14][15]

Plunder

When vessels are lost in an unknown area or are unprotected, a potential salvor might discover and
plunder the wreck without knowledge of the wreck's owner. Salvaging a foreign navy's vessel is
against international law.[16] Despite this, many shipwrecks from World War II near Indonesia —
where most of the water is shallower than 80 metres (260 ft)— are threatened by scavenging for
low-background steel for use in medical and scientific equipment.[17]
Intelligence salvage

During World War I, a Royal Navy team of covert divers led by GCC Damant salvaged intelligence
materials from recently sunken U-boats. They mostly worked in the English Channel but extended as
far as Scapa Flow. They dived and found at least fifteen wrecks, of which about seven provided
valuable intelligence material.

At the height of the Cold War, the United States raised a portion of Soviet submarine K-129 in the
Western Pacific Ocean. The CIA, who conducted the salvage under the guise of mining the seafloor
for manganese nodules with a commercial vessel, spent over $800 million in 1974 on the
clandestine operation now known as Project Azorian.

Law

Salvage law states that a salvor should be rewarded for risking their life and property to rescue
another ship in danger. It is in some ways similar to the wartime law of prize — the capture,
condemnation and sale of a vessel and its cargo as a spoil of war, insofar as both compensate the
salvor/captors for risking life and property.[18] The two areas of law may overlap each other. For
instance, a vessel taken as a prize, then recaptured by friendly forces on its way to the prize
adjudication, is not deemed a prize of the rescuers (the title merely reverts to the original owner).
However, the rescuing vessel is entitled to a claim for salvage.[19] Likewise, a vessel found badly
damaged, abandoned, and adrift after taking enemy fire, does not become a prize of a rescuing
friendly vessel, but the rescuers may claim salvage.[20] A vessel is considered in peril if it is in
immediate danger or is likely within a reasonable and relevant period to become in danger. Prior to a
salvage attempt, the salvor receives permission from the owner or the master to assist the vessel. If
the vessel is abandoned, no permission is needed.[7]

The reward is partly determined by the value of the vessel, the degree of risk, and the degree of peril
the vessel was in. Legal disputes often arise from claiming salvage rights, so boat owners or
skippers often remain on board and in command of the vessel; they do everything possible to
minimise further loss and seek to minimise the degree of risk the vessel is in. If another vessel
offers a tow and the master or owner negotiates an hourly rate before accepting, then salvage does
not apply.

Some maritime rescue organisations, such as Britain's Royal National Lifeboat Institution advise
that the crews of their lifeboats renounce their right to claim compensation for salvage, however if
property is saved, they can make a claim but may need to pay for the use of the lifeboat and any
damages that might occur.[21]
Jetsam are goods thrown off a ship to eliminate any unnecessary weight. Flotsam are goods that
floated away from the ship when it was sinking. Ligan or lagan are goods left in the sea, on the
wreck, or tied to a buoy, so that they can be recovered later by the owners. Derelict is abandoned
vessels or cargo.

The United Kingdom's Merchant Shipping Act 1995 states that jetsam, flotsam, lagan, and all other
cargo in the wreckage remain the property of their original owners. Anyone removing those goods
must inform the Receiver of Wreck to avoid the accusation of theft. Wreck diving has laws to protect
historic wrecks of archaeological importance, and the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986
protects ships and aircraft that are the last resting place of the remains of members of the armed
forces.

The 1910 Brussels Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules with Respect to Assistance and
Salvage at Sea reflects the traditional legal principles of marine salvage. The 1989 International
Convention on Salvage incorporated the essential provisions of the 1910 Convention while adding
on new principles. The 1989 Salvage Convention entered force on 14 July 1996 with nearly twenty
parties in agreement. States that are part of both conventions consider the 1989 Convention a
greater priority over the 1910 one, where their provisions are mutually incompatible.

Boat owners can clarify with an assisting vessel if the operation is to be considered salvage, or
simply assistance towing. If this is not done, the boat owner may find that the rescuer may be
eligible for a substantial salvage award if the salvor can show sufficient evidence that the vessel
was in peril at the time, and a lien may be placed on the vessel if it is unpaid.[22] The salvor may then
have a lawful right to keep the salvaged property until the claim is settled.[22] The claim and award in
law is influenced by the salved values involved, as well as the level of care, nature of rescue and
efforts of the salvor.[22] However, the salvage award can never exceed the salved value of the ship
and property.[22]

Techniques

Marine salvage often requires the salvor to adapt available materials and equipment to the situation,
and the job is often constrained by urgency, weather and sea conditions, site accessibility, and
financial considerations.[6]

Where practicable, procedures that minimise the use of divers are usually chosen, as diving is slow,
strenuous, dangerous, expensive, and often inefficient. However, in some cases diving as the only
way or may be the most efficient way to do the work. Diving operations are limited to conditions
when the risk to the diving team is acceptable.[6]: Ch. 4
Disabled and abandoned vessels afloat

Rescue towing is when a ship in peril but still afloat is saved and taken to a refuge point. If the
vessel is adrift at sea or near a shore or harbour, a connection must be made before the ship goes
aground.[23]: Ch. 1

Salvage towing generally follows immediately after a salvage operation or may be a part of it. The
salvaged vessel may be towed to a safe haven for temporary repairs, to a port or facility where
complete repairs are possible, or to a disposal site for scrapping or sinking. Tow preparations may
involve measures like reinforcing weakened parts of the ship, or special rigging to release the tow
for sinking in a safe, controlled manner.[23]: Ch. 1

There is a major legal difference between assisting a vessel when a representative of the owner is
on board— which requires their permission— and which may be considered salvage depending on
the situation, and taking an abandoned vessel under tow, inherently considered salvage, which does
not require permission.

Stranded and sunken ships

Surveys and planning

A salvage survey is done to get information on the state of the vessel and the site which will be
useful for planning the salvage operation.[6]: Ch. 2

There is usually an initial or preliminary survey, followed by detailed surveys of topsides, interior, and
underwater hull, and a hydrographic survey of the site, as applicable. A safety survey and risk
assessment are part of these surveys, which are continuously updated as part of the operation as
conditions change, and the operational plans are adapted to suit the changing
circumstances.[6]: Ch. 2

Refloating

It is usually preferable to refloat a vessel so that it can be taken to a suitable venue for repair or
scrapping, but this is not always reasonably practicable.

There are some basic aspects to refloating a stranded ship: Its position must be stabilised to avoid
any further damage from the ground. Ground reactions must then be reduced to a level where the
vessel can be moved off of the ground without any additional structural damage. Then the vessel is
pulled off and moved into deeper water.[6]: Ch. 8
Stabilizing the vessel implies that it will not capsise due to insufficient static stability. This may
require reducing free surfaces, lowering the centre of gravity, possibly restraining listing by pontoons
fastened alongside to increase the waterplane area, or applying balancing forces.[6]: Ch. 8

Reduction of ground forces

Weight management increasing buoyancy, removing load bearing or obstructing ground, scouring,
or lifting the ship by using machinery, are some of the ways to reduce ground reaction forces.[notes 2]

Weight management

Weight management is rearranging and distributing weight around the vessel. Weight removal
nearby the ground reduces ground reaction, while removing weight farther away may increase
ground reaction.[6]: Ch. 8

Buoyancy

Buoyancy can be increased by either pumping — if the compartment is not holed below the
waterplane — or by blowing down compressed air if the compartment can be sealed above the
waterplane. In some cases, there is a third method of discarding the water using buoyant
materials.[6]: Ch. 8

Ground removal

Ground removal allows the ship to regain its buoyancy, provided there are no floods. Removing
ground in a channel allows the vessel to float on water. However, this method of reducing ground
forces depends on the condition of the ground. Sand and firm clay can be effortlessly removed but
refill quickly, and the channel will be reasonably stable in the short term. If the vessel is resting on
penetrating rocks, they must be removed even though it does not significantly reduce ground
reaction.[6]: Ch. 8

Scouring

Scouring is clearing the ground by using flowing water. Currents may be produced by the propeller
wash of tugs or jetting pumps, and is most effective in sand or mud. Dredging may be used to move
large quantities of loose or soft material from around and under a vessel and dig channels for deep
water. The equipment used for dredging depends on the seabed material and topography, access to
the casualty, the situation of the casualty, and the dredging equipment available.[6]: Ch. 8
Heavy machinery

Ground reaction may also be reduced by physically lifting the ship. Methods used include jacking,
pontoons, helicopters, and cranes or sheer legs.

Hydraulic jacks are used to temporarily lift stranded ships to allow them to be refloated by pulling or
to permit slipways to be constructed under them. Jacking requires the seafloor to be hard enough to
support the load, the ground to be reinforced, or the load spread on pads. Similarly, the hull of the
ship must be protected from jacking forces. If these forces are not spread out along the hull, they
may cause damage throughout the vessel. Jacks are placed near the center of the ground reaction,
usually symmetrically, and are secured with a retrieving line led to the deck. The jacks are extended
to their maximum lift at the beginning of a pull. When the ship moves, the jacks will topple and must
be reset for the next pull.[6]: Ch. 8 Jacks may also be used to push the ship horizontally if there is a
suitable reaction surface.[6]: Ch. 8

Pontoons of any kind can be placed alongside the stranded ship and rigged either directly to the hull
or with slings under the hull to provide lift and reduce ground reaction.[6]: Ch. 8

If space and water depths are adequate, cranes and sheer leg barges are rigged to lift the stranded
ship to reduce the ground reaction.[6]: Ch. 8

Temporary reductions of ground forces can be made during pulling to reduce ground reaction,
friction, or both. Jetting nozzles can be rigged to wash away the ground or to fluidise the seabed
with injected water to reduce friction. A similar effect can be achieved by air lances inserted under
the vessel. These are perforated pipes supplied with a high flow rate of compressed air. Swells
increase the buoyancy of the vessel as they pass.[6]: Ch. 8

Patching and cofferdamming

Underwater patching is almost always done by divers. As much patch fabrication and rigging as
possible is done out of the water to minimise diving time. Small leaks are generally sealed off and
made watertight by wooden plugs and wedges, small wooden patches and concrete boxes, small
steel plate patches or combinations of these, caulked and sometimes additionally sealed with
epoxy resin or fibre-reinforced resins. Small steel patches for minor leaks are usually fitted with
gasket material to seal against the damaged hull. Major patching is characterised by extensive
diving work and includes detailed underwater surveys, measurements, and major underwater
cutting and welding operations to prepare and fit the patches.[6]: Ch.10

When all or part of the main deck of a sunken ship is submerged, flooded spaces cannot be
dewatered until all openings are sealed or the effective freeboard is extended above the high water
level. In salvage, one method of doing this is to build a temporary watertight extension of the entire
hull of the ship, or the space to be dewatered, to the surface. This watertight extension is a
cofferdam.

Although they are temporary structures, cofferdams have to be strongly built, heavily stiffened, and
reinforced to withstand the hydrostatic and other loads that they will have to withstand. Large
cofferdams are normally restricted to harbour operations.[6]: Ch.10

Complete cofferdams cover most or all of the sunken vessel and are equivalent to extensions of the
ship's sides to above the water surface.[6]: Ch.10

Partial cofferdams are constructed around moderate-sized openings or areas such as a cargo hatch
or small deckhouse. They can often be prefabricated and installed as a unit, or prefabricated panels
can be joined during erection. When partial cofferdams are used, it may be necessary to
compensate for hydrostatic pressure on the deck by shoring the decks. With both complete and
partial cofferdams, there is usually a large free surface in the spaces being pumped. Sometimes
this can be limited by dewatering one compartment at a time, or by groups.[6]: Ch.10

Small cofferdams are used for pumping or to allow salvors access to spaces that are covered by
water at some stage of the tide. They are usually prefabricated and fitted around minor
openings.[6]: Ch.10

Diving work on cofferdams often involves clearing obstructions, fitting, and fastening, including
underwater welding, and where necessary, caulking, bracing and shoring the adjacent
structure.[6]: Ch.10

Dewatering

Removal of water from flooded parts of the vessel is done to increase buoyancy by removing
weight. The effect on stability is variable depending on the free surface in each compartment, and
the effect on the position of the centre of gravity. Dewatering may be done by pumping the water out
and allowing atmospheric pressure air to replace it through vents, in which case the external
hydrostatic pressure loads may require shoring and bracing, or by sealing the compartment and
blowing out the water using compressed air, which puts internal pressure loads on the structure
which depend on the pressure needed to expel the water.[6]: Ch. 11

Salvage pumps

Salvage pumps are general-purpose, portable dewatering pumps adapted for marine salvage work.
They tend to be of rugged construction with a protective framework or packaging to reduce the risk
of accidental damage.[6]: Ch. 11

Other features include the ability to self-prime and to handle a wide range of fluid viscosities and
specific gravities.[6]: Ch. 11

Pump types that are widely used in marine salvage work include self-contained, heavy-duty, internal
combustion engine driven centrifugal pumps, pneumatic diaphragm and centrifugal pumps, and
eductors and air lifts, which are dynamic pumps that use air or water to move other fluids. They are
simple, rugged and versatile, and are widely used in salvage operations.[6]: Ch. 11

Pulling systems

Tugs and ground tackle are commonly used in salvage. Tugs are attached to the vessel by a towline,
and develop pulling forces with their engines and propellers. Salvage ground tackle is a system of
anchors, ground legs,[notes 3] and hauling gear[notes 4] rigged to pullers, purchases,[notes 5] or winches,
on a platform, which may be the stranded ship, a salvage ship, a barge, or the shore. The total
pulling force may be developed by a combination of ground tackle and tugs.[6]: Ch. 8

Salvage rigging and lifting

Most salvage operations involve some form of lifting, from handling materials and equipment to
lifting whole ships from the seabed. External lifting is often a practical alternative to recovering
buoyancy, and has some advantages in that it reduces the complex underwater work of making the
vessel watertight, which usually requires less preparation time at depth and inside a sunk
vessel.[6]: Ch. 13

External lifting involves lifting units that can be synchronized to achieve the desired lift throughout
the operation; it can provide more transverse and longitudinal stability compared to recovery of
buoyancy, and is usually quicker.[6]: Ch. 13

There are three categories of external lifts: immersed buoyant lifts, tidal lifts and mechanical
lifts.[6]: Ch. 13

Inflatable lift bags and rigid steel pontoons have been consistently useful as submersible buoyant
lifting devices for salvage work.[6]: Ch. 13

Tidal lifts mainly use the rise of tide to provide the range of motion of the lift, but some additional
lifting capacity is available by de-ballasting the lift craft. The lift craft are often barges, which may be
adapted from vessels locally available. The method is not often used and relies on a suitable tidal
range. The lift craft are usually used in pairs with the sunken vessel slung between them, but a
single vessel straddling the sunken vessel can be used for a limited range of lifting until the water
depth gets too shallow for the lifting vessel to fit above the casualty. A single large lifting vessel
may be appropriate to do the initial lift and move the casualty into more sheltered water, where the
lift can be completed by several less seaworthy barges, and where relative movement can be more
easily controlled.[6]: Ch. 13

Mechanical lifts use wire ropes chain rigged to, or under, the sunken object. They are independent of
tide, but tides could be used for assisting the lift, and there is more control of the lift and lifting
rates. Lifts may be possible in heavier sea conditions than possible for tidal lifts.

The following types of mechanical lifts are made in salvage:

Bow and stern lifts by salvage ships[6]: Ch. 13

Lifts by crane vessels with slewing cranes[6]: Ch. 13

Bow lifts by sheer-leg barges[6]: Ch. 13

When close enough to the shore, land based lifting equipment may be used when available.

Wrecking in place

Wrecking in place, or piecemeal demolition, is dismantling a wreck in situ (on site), usually when it is
not possible or economically viable to salvage it, and it is a navigational hazard. Removal and
disposal of the ship's contents, such as cargo, stores, and equipment may be included.[6]: Ch. 14

The usual methods for wrecking in place are manual flame cutting by divers and surface workers,
mechanical demolition using heavy lift cranes, explosive sectioning, dispersal, or flattening, and
burial or settling by hydraulic dredging.[6]: Ch. 14

Capsized ships

Seawise University capsized after being

gutted by fire in 1972
Capsising occurs when a boat or ship is tipped over beyond the angle of positive static stability. It
may result from broaching, knockdown, or loss of stability due to cargo shifting or flooding. In high
speed boats, capsizing is a result of sharp turns. A capsized vessel may sink or remain afloat, and a
sinking vessel may roll over while sinking. The process of recovering a vessel from a capsise is
called righting.

The salvage of a capsized vessel may involve righting on site, or towing to a more sheltered area
before righting; possibly including refloating, either before or after righting.[6]: Ch. 7

It is not unusual for a ship to capsise as it sinks, as refloating becomes more difficult. Ships are
righted by applying a moment to overcome the forces holding the ship in the capsized position.
There are four basic approaches to salvaging a capsized ship:[6]: Ch. 7

Righting the ship in place, and then refloating it

Refloating the ship on its side and moving it to another location to be righted

Rotating the ship until it is completely upside down and refloating the inverted ship

Wrecking the ship in situ

Factors influencing how a ship is righted may include:

How much of a hazard to navigation the vessel is

Whether the cargo and fuel are environmental hazards

Where the vessel is

The weather and climate of the vessel's area

Logistical resources

Structural condition of the vessel

Value of the vessel and its contents

Condition and position of the vessel

The position and attitude of a capsized vessel in the water relative to the geography has a strong
influence of the complexity and preferred method of righting and refloating it, including:[6]: Ch. 7

The angle of the vessel's rotation

The depth of water around and over the ship

The type of seabed and the contact area and distribution of the plating in contact with the seabed,
and how much the ship is embedded in the bottom
 Slope of the bottom and amount of trim

Proximity to fixed installations, such as piers, wharves, or harbour installations

Distance to sheltered or protected shallow water areas

Environmental effects

Environmental effects that influence the salvage of capsized ships include:[6]: Ch. 7

Embedding into the bottom sediments, and the associated suction effects that increase forces
required to break the vessel out of the bottom at the start of righting or lifting[6]: Ch. 7

Scouring of the bottom sediments immediately adjacent to the vessel, which removes sediment
supporting the ship and can cause high structural loads, which can lead to structural failure of the
hull, and further subsidence into the seabed[6]: Ch. 7

Silt deposition inside the hull that increases weight within the vessel or necessitates removal
before lifting or righting[6]: Ch. 7

Slope of the bottom, which influences the position and attitude of the vessel on the bottom[6]: Ch. 7

Tidal currents and depth variations which can complicate or assist with refloating, and waves and
surge which affect the work of divers, and salvage vessels. Underwater visibility also affects the
efficiency of diving work[6]: Ch. 7

Righting in place, then refloating

Righting a capsized ship is usually done to remove a ship that is obstructing a berth, harbour area,
or access channel, although wrecks are also salvaged for environmental or aesthetic
reasons.[6]: Ch. 7

There is no guarantee that a righted and refloated ship can be economically returned to service. The
combined costs of righting, refloating, repairing, and refurbishing usually make returning the ship to
service financially impractical. Most righting operations involve the removal of large amounts of
superstructure, adding to the cost of repairs.[6]: Ch. 7

The method, or combination of methods, to be used to right a capsized ship, depend on several
factors, including:[6]: Ch. 7

Calculation of the righting moments needed to overcome the capsizing moments

Identification of the physical point about which the ship will rotate, which may involve substrate
load-bearing and shear calculations

Investigation of local hull stresses in the ship during righting

 Determination of load-bearing capacity of hull areas critical to righting

Transverse and longitudinal stability analysis at selected stages of the righting process, and if
necessary hull shear and bending moment analyses at these stages

Available options for weight reduction, buoyancy addition, and other methods to reduce righting
forces or lower the capsizing moment will be investigated

Several methods may be used for righting capsized ships. Most involve rotating the vessel around
the turn of the bilge as the contact area with the seabed, known as static righting. However, there are
circumstances when this is not practical. Different criteria apply if the ship is refloated while
capsized and then righted while floating.[6]: Ch. 7

Selective sealing of major compartments in the hull, with controlled dewatering by pumping to
restore buoyancy, combined with ballasting the high side to provide a righting couple

Inducing buoyancy into selected spaces by displacing water with compressed air, and adding high
side water ballast to provide a couple. It may be necessary to provide some external force to start
the rotation

Applying external static forces to lever arms mounted on the hull, usually in combination with
dewatering some compartments

Applying external counterweights to the high side of the hull, and external buoyant lifting systems
to the low side

Applying a direct, external lifting force to the low side of the hull

Extending lever arms, known as headframes, from the hull and applying external righting forces at
the end of these levers

Applying a combination of direct lift to the low side of the hull, and an external pull to the high side
of the hull, used when sufficient hauling and lifting power is readily available and is not practical
to seal the hull for induced buoyancy.

Fixing righting beams to the high side of the capsized ship, then applying a lifting force to these
levers

A combination of methods, including restoring buoyancy by dewatering selected spaces, adding

rotational ballast to the high side, applying a dynamic pull to the high side of the ship, and a
mechanical lift on the low side

Dredging or scouring sedimentary bottom ground out along the bilges to undercut the side resting
on the bottom.
Once the ship has been righted, appropriate methods for refloating may be applied if necessary, and
further dewatering and ballasting may be used to achieve satisfactory stability for transit.[6]

Refloating while lying on the side

When a vessel is lying on its side, it is sealed to allow dewatering by compressing air, pumping out,
inducing buoyancy, applying enough direct lifting power to lift the ship bodily while on its side, or any
combination of these methods.[6]: Ch. 7

The transverse and longitudinal static stability of a ship to be refloated on its side must be
calculated for during and after the refloating, and precautions taken to ensure that unplanned
changes of orientation do not occur.[6]: Ch. 7

A ship refloated on its side can then be towed to a place more suitable for righting if this is useful.
This type of operation may require setting up hauling equipment on shore, preparing the ship for
righting by fitting attachment points for lifting and hauling gear, removing top-weight that increases
capsizing moment, and sealing openings that would allow air to escape from buoyant
compartments during righting.[6]: Ch. 7

Refloating while upside down

Refloating an upside-down ship may be appropriate when:[6]: Ch. 7

It is capsized to more than ninety degrees.

The ship's bottom is relatively intact or can be made airtight.

Items that will increase the navigational draft of the inverted ship can be removed easily, or do not
matter.

The route to the destination is deep enough to allow the inverted ship to pass.

The refloated ship is to be scuttled in deep water, scrapped in a dry-dock, or taken to some other
place that can accept the inverted ship.

Ships are usually refloated upside down by restoring their buoyancy with compressed air so that the
ship's bottom plating can be made airtight with minimal work. Rotation to the completely inverted
position usually is done by a combination of inducing buoyancy by blowing down hull
compartments with compressed air and applying a relatively small amount of external buoyancy or
direct lift to rotate the vessel to the inverted position. Transverse and longitudinal stability must be
calculated to ensure floating stability. An upside-down ship is usually adequately stable when the
waterline is around tank-top level, or about a meter freeboard for moderate to large ships without a
double bottom.[6]: Ch. 7
Air that leaks from inverted ships under tow or standing for long periods while upside down is
replenished or the ship will sink again when sufficient buoyancy is lost.[6]: Ch. 7

Minimizing disruption to shipping

Ships that capsise or sink in navigable waterways are traffic hazards. Depending on the situation,
traffic may be restricted or impossible, and refloating the ship in its existing orientation may allow
the lanes to be cleared with minimum delay.[6]: Ch. 7

When there is no operational necessity for salvors to obstruct channel traffic, it is preferable to allow
normal traffic for as long as reasonably possible. Safe navigational practice may require local traffic
to be restricted or stopped during parts of the operation.[6]: Ch. 7

Salvage firefighting

Shipboard firefighting and associated damage control can be considered salvage work when done
as assistance to a vessel in distress, and is done in three basic phases.[6]: Ch. 18

Containment of fire within structural boundaries to prevent it spreading.

Control of fires inside the imposed boundaries, and securing adjacent areas from the threat of
fire.

Extinguishing fires by systematic attacks by firefighting teams moving through the fire control
boundaries and attacking the fire fronts.

There are also two associated, but subsidiary, phases:[6]: Ch. 18

Control of flooding by preventing the accumulation of firefighting water and limiting or mitigating
the damage it can cause to structure, buoyancy, stability, equipment, and cargo, that directly
threaten survival of the ship.

Cleaning and repairing damaged areas, patching, and dewatering.

Deep water salvage

An entire ship can be recovered from deep water when economically viable in some special cases,
or because it is easier to recover the whole vessel intact than to try to recover the targeted items on
their own. Deep ocean salvage operations may be done to recover material which may:[24]: Ch. 1

be useful in an investigation to determine cause of a casualty,

 be usefully returned to service,

be hazardous to the environment if left in place,

prevent it from falling into hostile hands,

have sufficient intrinsic value to justify the cost.

Deep salvage operations tend to be slow and tedious, and often require more precision than other
types of salvage operations.[24]: Ch. 1

Since the second half of the 20th century, developments in technology led to machinery being
capable of locating small objects on the seafloor and allowing recovery of objects from far deeper
than divers can work. The development of towed side-scan sonar and similar technology has
improved the probability of successful deep searches. Dragging with grapnels, searches by divers,
and searches using low-resolution sonar were previously the tools available for ocean search. Such
searches were difficult, limited in depth and had a very low probability of success.[24]: Ch. 1

Underwater searches

Underwater searches are a basic aspect of deep water salvage operations, as before an object can
be recovered, it must first be found, inspected and identified, and recorded so that it can be returned
to when necessary.[24]: Ch. 2

The main factors of a search operation are:[24]: Ch. 2

whether there are acoustic pingers, transponders or other location aids on the target.

datum quality – the accuracy and reliability of the existing position information,

target characteristics (size, material and breakup characteristics),

water depth and other characteristics,

seafloor type and topography,

prevailing weather conditions,

geographical location,

equipment availability.

Sensor types

Echo sounders

Single and multi-beam echo sounders are types of sonar that can measure and record the bottom
profile along the track of the search platform. Single beam echo sounders are permanently installed
on a ship, with the transducers mounted through the hull.[24]: Ch. 2 Multi-beam systems are also
permanent and mounted through the hull, portable and mounted over the side, or towed. Resolution
depends on the signal frequency and height of the transducers above the bottom, and depth range
depends to some extent on frequency. Accuracy depends on the positional data for the transducers
and corrections made for the actual speed of sound through the water during the search.

Side-scan sonar

Side-scan sonar uses acoustic transducers towed underwater to produce a plan view image of the
seafloor showing details of the topography and artifacts at the sides of the track. The swath of
seafloor covered in a single pass by side-scan sonar is relatively wide; therefore, it is a relatively
efficient search system with a high proficiency of detecting a target.[24]: Ch. 2

The effective resolution of side-scan sonar depends largely on the operating frequency; the higher
the frequency, the greater the resolution, but swath width coverage is inversely related to frequency,
so that the higher the frequency, the smaller the area of seafloor covered in a single pass.[24]: Ch. 2
Sonar images indicate surfaces, which reflect the signal. Anything entirely in the shadow of another
object will not be detected.

Pinger locators

Pinger locators are a class of passive acoustic search systems that do not produce any sound—they
only detect sound within a specific frequency range. They are useful for finding artifacts equipped
with an acoustic beacon (pinger) as a signal of the vehicle's location, such as cockpit voice
recorders and flight data recorders used by nearly all military and commercial aircraft, which have a
37 kHz acoustic pinger to help locate them in case of a crash at sea.[24]: Ch. 2

Pinger-locators that use an omnidirectional hydrophone have a maximum detection range of about
one nautical mile (about 1,850 meters). The omnidirectional hydrophone cannot give bearing
information, so several passes must be made over the pinger to pinpoint its position. A pinger-
locator that uses a tuned array with a narrow directional hydrophone can give directional
information and has increased detection range of up to about two nautical miles. Towed pinger-
locators (TPLS) are towed through the search area much like a side-scan sonar, but can be towed at
a higher speed as there are no concerns about resolution. Because of their long range and higher
speed, they tend to be effective at locating the target in a shorter time. Pinger-locators designed for
hand-held operations from the surface or by divers, have a shorter range.[24]: Ch. 2
Magnetometers

Magnetometers are sensitive to electromagnetic fields that differ from the local geomagnetic field.
In most applications relating to salvage, this is a fairly large mass of steel or iron. They have a
relatively limited detection range, as the target is not usually strongly magnetised, and can also pick
up volcanic rock if present in large amounts.[24]: Ch. 2

The magnetic signal strength of an object is inversely proportional to the cube of the distance
between the sensor and the object, so magnetometers are less commonly used than the primary
sensor, but magnetometers are sometimes used as a secondary sensor to a side-scan sonar
search, particularly in situations where the target is lost within misleading terrain, such as a field of
rocks, and the sonar return from the target is not easily distinguished from those of the rocks. A
magnetometer is also one of the few instruments capable of locating an object that is buried deeply
in bottom sediments.[24]: Ch. 2

Optical imaging systems

Optical imaging systems have been successfully used in deep ocean searches, either independently
or in combination with a side-scan sonar. The obvious advantage of an optical imaging system is
that the image produced can result in identification of the target without the need for time-
consuming contact classification. The actual sensing devices used in optical imaging include still
photographic cameras, real-time video cameras, and laser-imaging systems, using lidar technology.
Still and video cameras rely on conventional strobe or floodlights as their illumination source. Due to
limitations imposed by attenuation of the light and backscattering, still and video sensors need to
be within 10 to 20 meters of a target to identify it. A laser-imaging system utilises a blue and green
laser as the illumination source to minimise attenuation and backscattering problems and can
image targets as far as 50 meters away in good conditions. The disadvantages of these systems
are a result of high sensitivity to turbidity and underwater visibility and include a relatively very
narrow swath width and range compared to sonar, which results in relatively low towfish altitudes
and a low search rate.[24]: Ch. 2

Sensor platforms

Surface vessels

Surface vessels can search underwater using sonar and magnetometer detection equipment.[25][26]
Sometimes, an optical search is also possible. Sensors and sensor arrays can be mounted on
surface vessels, either in a fixed mounting, or on a mounting that is deployed when in use and may
be portable between vessels allowing convenient and economical use from vessels of opportunity.
Some types of sensors, such as side-scan sonar and magnetometers, deployed near the bottom
work better, so salvors deploy them as towed array sonar systems on towfish, towed behind a
surface vessel, with the display and recording equipment on the towing vessel.[24]

Towfish

A towed array sonar, or towfish, is a system of hydrophones towed behind a ship by a cable.[27]
Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel on a cable that can be kilometers long keeps the array's
sensors away from the ship's own noise sources, greatly improving its signal-to-noise ratio, and
hence the effectiveness of detecting and tracking faint contacts, such as quiet, low noise-emitting
submarine threats, or seismic signals.[28]

Remotely operated vehicles

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) can be used as a platform for sensors, which can maneuver the
sensors in proximity to objects of interest on the bottom. Its value as a search tool depends on how
effectively and efficiently it can be used to cover a search area compared to towed or surface vessel
mounted systems. An ROV is limited to operating in small areas because of the restriction of the
umbilical on maneuverability and range, but it is effective in searching a debris field for specific
items. Onboard acoustic and optical sensors can be used to locate and identify objects, and
manipulators may be useful for recovering objects within its carrying capacity.[24]: Ch. 2

Crewed submersibles

Crewed submersibles often have search sensors mounted as part of their basic outfit, as searches
are a common task, and the same sensors are often also used for underwater navigation.

Autonomous underwater vehicles

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robotic submersible that travels underwater without
requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs are part of a larger class of undersea systems
known as unmanned underwater vehicles, which includes remotely operated underwater vehicles
(ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator via an umbilical. Some AUVs are
capable of deep ocean, large area side-scan sonar search and detailed optical inspection
interchangeably.[29][30]

Other search tools

Navigation systems

Accurate and repeatable navigation is an essential requirement for deep ocean search operations.
The salvor must have the ability to steer the vessel on the planned search pattern, precisely track
the position of the search vessel and sensor towfish, and return to any position at a later
time.[24]: Ch. 2

Loss data analysis

Loss data analysis is the process of defining the search area and most probable target location by
the acquisition and analysis of all available information related to the loss of an object. This task is
the start of the planning process and will usually influence the other planning activities, such as
equipment selection and search pattern design. The first step is to compile all of the information
available from the actual scene of the loss. This may require a first-hand visit to the scene by the
search specialist to interview eyewitnesses as soon as possible, due to information expiring over a
long period of time. The following information is usually collected:[24]: Ch. 2

Times of the loss and other related events.

Eyewitness and survivor accounts describing the loss.

Position of the loss or last contact with the object.

Position of floating debris.

Position of survivor rescues.

Weather conditions at the time of loss.

Water conditions at the time of loss.

All information and its sources are analyzed for probable accuracy. Some data will be contradictory
and a judgement will have to be made regarding the probability of accuracy of each. The search
area box around the most probable seafloor position must account for the cumulative error or the
uncertainty inherent in the deduced position. The confidence level that the target lies within the
search box should be high before the actual search commences.[24]: Ch. 2

Search probability analysis

Search probability analysis takes the loss data analysis further by determining the most probable
target location. The search area box is partitioned into smaller areas called cells, each individually
assigned its own calculated probability of the target being in that cell. A map of these cells will
indicate where the search should be concentrated to improve the chance of early location of the
target in a large search area.[24]: Ch. 2

Search patterns

The quality of a search pattern is measured by how thoroughly and efficiently the search area is
examined. Systematic examination of the search area is achieved by following a planned pattern
that is suitable to the search's parameters.[24]: Ch. 2

There are search patterns which have been found to be both effective and practical for deep ocean
searches. For side-scan sonar searches, regardless of what search pattern is used, is to orient the
long dimension of the search area so that it is approximately parallel with the depth contours, which
minimises the need to make changes of the towfish altitude to maintain a reasonably consistent
altitude and swath width; this results in more consistent sonar performance and a lower risk of
omitted areas and excessive swath overlap. Signal degradation may occur on the down-slope side
when running along contours, but is preferable to poor returns from the towfish as it is hauled up
and down. Track spacing can be adapted to compensate.[24]: Ch. 2

Parallel grid search

The most commonly used search pattern for a towed sensor search is a rectangular grid with
straight-line search tracks parallel to each other. Adjacent search tracks are spaced close enough to
allow the sonar coverage to overlap by enough to compensate for ship track and sonar tow path
variations, and also compensate for the inherent loss in the sonar return and resolution at the outer
edges and caused by depth variations.[24]: Ch. 2

The ship must reverse heading and steady its course with the towfish aligned and at the correct
depth at the end of each line and before re-entering the search area. A towfish will tend to change
depth with a change in speed, and care must be taken that it does not hit the bottom during the
turns. A straight run of several kilometers may be needed to get the towfish properly realigned in
deep water work, so the time required for turns may exceed the time actually searching.[24]: Ch. 2

Constant range search

Constant range searches are used if the vessel's navigation system is unable to navigate along
straight lines. This pattern uses search lines that are a constant distance from a fixed reference
point. When used for a side-scan sonar search, the range from the central point of the curves must
be great enough to give a reasonably straight-line segment, as tracks that are not straight will
degrade the side-scan sonar imagery and make interpretation much more difficult.[24]: Ch. 2 With
ubiquitous GPS, this method is mostly of historical interest.

"Z" search

"Z" search patterns are used specifically for the location of an undersea pipeline or cable, and they
essentially cover the entire search area with slightly less detection probability than a parallel grid
search, but without the need for 100-percent coverage and the typical overlap. The "Z" search makes
use of the linear nature of pipelines and cables by ensuring that the towed sensor will cross the
object several times at a reasonable angle for detection. If the object is detected with high
confidence on the first few passes, the pattern can be modified such that the track lines will be
shortened to just span the object and eventually follow it continuously within sensor range. The
primary disadvantages of a "Z" search are that the object’s orientation must be known beforehand
and that the actual moment of detection is short and can be missed. For this reason, it is
recommended that both a side-scan sonar and magnetometer be used in tandem.[24]: Ch. 2

ROV box search

An ROV box search is unique to ROV operations. The ROV will completely search a square area of
seafloor and then move on to search an adjacent square area of the same dimensions. Through
successive searching of adjacent boxes arranged in a grid, the ROV can systematically cover a
search area with reasonable expectations of full coverage. ROV box searches are designed around
the effective range of the ROV’s scanning sonar and the scope of free movement available to the
ROV using its tether. The search begins by deploying the ROV in the center of the box while the
support ship keeps station over the box center. Guided by the sonar contacts it picks up, the ROV
follows radial lines from the center of the box to locate and visually inspect each contact.[24]: Ch. 2

Search coverage

Search coverage is the area of seafloor effectively inspected by the sensors. Its area is determined
by the sensor effective swath width and the distance traveled by the search vessel on its track. It
also relates to the repeat coverage of an area—one pass ideally gives 100% coverage of an area and
two passes over the same area gives 200% for that area. The quality of a search depends on how
well the search area is examined. Occasionally, a cursory search may find an object, but a thorough
search is always to be planned and the search area is completely covered.[24]: Ch. 2

Swath width is the lateral coverage of the seafloor by the search sensor perpendicular to the track. It
is based on the detection range for the target for the expected bottom terrain. Resolution of the
sensor is inversely related to swath width, particularly for side-scan sonar—the greater the swath
width the lower the resolution.[24]: Ch. 2 Swath width is also a function of sensor height and bottom
slope, and will vary depending on bottom profile.

Lane spacing is the distance between two adjacent tracks in a grid search. The lane spacing must
be less than the swath width of the sensor to allow for enough range overlap to assure complete
coverage of the search area. The spacing between tracks along with the swath width determines the
degree of coverage of the search area and ultimately the quality of the search. As lane spacing is
decreased, the coverage and search quality increases because a greater percentage of seafloor is
examined in two separate sensor passes. Closer lane spacing gives more thorough coverage, but
increases the search time because more passes must be made through a given search area.[24]: Ch. 2

Range overlap is the area of seafloor that is examined twice on successive passes. It provides a
margin of safety to mitigate ship track and sensor tow path variations and compensates for the
inherent loss in the sonar signal quality at the outer ranges. The amount of range overlap required
should be estimated before starting the search. A common range overlap for side-scan sonar is
50%, which is produced by using a lane spacing that of 50% of the swath width. The entire area of
seafloor between the two outer tracks of the search box should be scanned twice in this
scenario.[24]: Ch. 2

Search time is the time expended on the search, and is estimated during the planning. The basic
information used for the calculation is the size of the area to be searched, the lane spacing to be
used during the search, the approximate speed of the search vessel and an estimate of the end-of-
line turn time, taking into account the water depth.[24]: Ch. 2

Contact classification is the process in which contacts from sensors are analyzed. Classification is
a process of interpretation which depends on the distinctive characteristics target as the reference
against which contacts are compared. It may be possible to identify a contact to be the lost object
without the need for in-depth analysis, but in complex searches that involve many objects and
numerous false contacts, the classification process can take days or weeks. Quantitative analysis
that can be performed on side-scan and multibeam sonar contacts includes measuring the intensity
of sonar signal returned by the contact, measuring the horizontal dimensions of the target and the
height of the contact off the seafloor. Precise position data of the contacts can also be useful in the
interpretation of data. Qualitative analysis of a contact is the interpretation by the search specialist
based on experience. The product of this analysis is a list of contacts ranked in priority for
subsequent observation and identification.[24]: Ch. 2

Recovery systems

The recovery systems available for deep salvage operations include ambient pressure divers,
manned submersibles, atmospheric diving systems, remotely operated vehicles, and surface-
controlled grabbing devices. The system selected for a particular operation depends upon
availability, operational feasibility and economics. Every time an operator submerges to any depth,
the risk to life in the operation increases. ROVs have become the primary tool of choice for many
deep ocean operations.[24]: Ch. 2

Divers bring human vision, judgement, and dexterity to recovery operations, but these advantages
are outweighed by the increasing complexity and cost of ambient pressure diving operations as
depth increases, and there are physiological limits which set a maximum practical depth of around
300 metres (0.19 mi), even for saturation diving. There are also environmental limitations of current
and visibility, particularly when target identification and complex rigging tasks are involved. There
are complex logistics and dedicated personnel requirements for diving operations at all depths, and
this is increased for saturation diving.[24]: Ch. 2

Ambient pressure diving only gives access to shallow depths relative to those attainable by
atmospheric diving systems, submersibles, and ROVs. Divers are most effectively employed in
relatively shallow water when the hazards of the operation and the decompression requirements are
limited.[24]: Ch. 2

Crewed submersibles and atmospheric diving systems can take human operators deeper than
ambient pressure diving, incur no decompression obligation, and reduce the risk of drowning and
other environmental hazards. These systems are useful in operations where it helps to have an
operator who can view the target directly and can reason on the bottom. Crewed vehicles can
operate without tethers, which can severely limit the maneuverability of tethered vehicles (ROVs),
particularly in high-current areas.[24]: Ch. 1

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) can be used for most deep ocean salvage operations. These
vehicles are available in a range of capabilities, allowing the use of equipment best suited to the
task. ROVs eliminate the risk to human life inherent in crewed systems, and are capable of operating
at depth until the task is complete or maintenance is required; operator fatigue does not limit
mission duration which is particularly advantageous where the depth requires long ascent and
descent times.[24]: Ch. 1

Lifting

For very small loads, it may be possible and convenient to recover the load using the ROV or
submersible directly. For larger loads, buoyant lifts, cable lifts and combined buoyancy, assisted
cable lifts are used.[24]: Ch.2

The lifting load has several components. If the load is embedded in the bottom, the breakout force
can be a large part of the total, even the largest part in some situations. This can be difficult to
manage with purely buoyant lifts; if one breaks, the lifting force from an unconstrained buoyant
lifting device may cause an uncontrolled ascent, in which hydrodynamic drag is the limiting factor to
ascent speed. To keep control, a tripping line may be attached to a lift bag, which will spill the air
from the lift bag after it breaks out the load and ascends a few metres. An alternative is to use a lift
bag which has less buoyancy than the weight of the load in water, and use a lifting cable to provide
the rest of the breakout and lift force, ensuring that the load ascends at the rate the cable is reeled
in.[24]: Ch.2

The object to be recovered has a weight in water, also known as apparent weight or negative
buoyancy, which is its dry weight less its displacement and the weight that caused the ship to sink.
If it is hollow and flooded, there is the inertia of the internal water which increases the force needed
to accelerate the object. If it is not self draining, this is added to the object's basic air weight when
lifting it out of the water. Additional water will be entrained when it is moving, and increase the
inertial mass when accelerating during the lift. This is a difficult load to calculate, as it depends on
orientation, shape and speed of movement. It may also be considered as hydrodynamic drag. It has
a damping effect on acceleration and speed of lift, and disappears when the load is standing still or
when it is lifted out of the water.[24]: Ch.2

Another part of the load is the self weight of the cable. This can be a large part of the load for deep
work with steel cable due to the density of steel, but is much less of a problem with high specific
strength synthetic cables, which can be nearly neutral buoyancy.[24]: Ch.2

The static load is the load when hanging free and motionless in the water, a theoretical situation
which may occur for brief intervals, and is less than the dynamic loads peaks due to velocity and
acceleration. Much of the dynamic loading is caused by ship motion in a seaway, and can be
reduced by using a cable that stretches when the load increases and returns to a shorter state when
the lifting cable load is reduced. Another way of limiting dynamic load is to pass the cable through a
ship motion compensator, also known as a heave compensator, which adjusts the deployed cable
length to reduce dynamic loading. This may be a passive system, which acts like a spring and
damper, or an active system, which adjusts the speed and direction of the winch to similar, but
usually a greater effect.[24]: Ch.2

Although elasticity of the lifting cable can dissipate shock loads, it makes the cable and load
system subject to resonance at some frequency which depends on the mass of the load and the
length and elasticity of the cable. The velocity dependent drag of the water on the load works to
damp oscillation, but there will usually be a depth at which the natural frequency of vertical
oscillation of the load and cable matches the frequency of seaway induced disturbances on the
position of the lifting point and resonant motion occurs. This is a dangerous stage of the lift, as the
resonance can increase cable tension considerably, so the time in resonance should be minimised.
Heave compensators can reduce resonant motion considerably, and an increase of hoist speed will
increase drag on the load and may also help damp oscillations.[24]: Ch.2
History

Sir William Phipps used a diving

bell to salvage cargo from a
sunken Spanish treasure ship.

The recovery of cargo from ships sunk in shallow coastal waters by breathhold divers and by
dragging with grapnels is recorded in classical antiquity.[31][32]

16th to 18th centuries

The large growth in maritime traffic in the Atlantic between the 1500s and 1800s was accompanied
by a large number of shipwrecks, many with valuable cargoes. In response to this, a corresponding
growth occurred in the salvage industry. Most divers of the period were employed in harvesting
natural resources and in salvage work. The earliest salvors were mainly opportunistic, but this
evolved into a business working within a legal arrangement of patents, concessions, and contracts.
Entrepreneurs generated a wealth of records, unlike the small scale opportunistic salvors who often
worked outside the law, and therefore left few records. New technology to increase the underwater
working time for divers was limited by the technology, as there was a lack of pumping capacity to
supply air at depth. The underwater endurance of freedivers was mainly extended by the use of
diving bells and engines, which either carried a small volume of air inside, or were laboriously
replenished from weighted barrels, severely limiting maximum operating depth and duration. Use of
the equipment was also constrained by the weather and sea conditions.[33]

Environmental constraints prevented these salvors from working deeper than about 20 m
(0.012 mi), and while the weather and seas were calm. Search technology—dragging with snag-lines
and grapnels—was another limitation, along with imprecise navigation and improper records of
shipwreck locations. Salvage was generally only effective on wrecks where the position was already
known—where survivors had reported the location, or where a company or government had
recorded it. A rare exception to this was William Phip's successful recovery of twenty-six tons of
silver in 1687, which inspired a large number of unsuccessful treasure hunts, most of which lost the
investors' money.[33]

In the following decades, professional salvors concentrated on recent wrecks where the position
was well established. Since the pre-industrial technology severely limited underwater time and
mobility and lifting capacity, salvors concentrated on high-value, low bulk cargoes, particularly non-
ferrous metals, which retain their value even after long immersion.[33]

A few attempts to raise entire ships, such as the Mary Rose, Vasa, and Royal George usually
failed.[33]

The route of the annual Spanish treasure ship fleet went through areas with seasonal bad weather
and a large amount of shallow reef, so they expected some of the ships to be wrecked, and were
prepared to deal with the losses where practicable by setting up salvage teams of local divers in
most major ports along the route. They were fairly efficient at salvaging their cargoes, and usually
did not leave much for other contemporary salvors to recover. Salvage teams with divers were sent
out as soon as a wreck was reported, so the wreck could be located before it broke up. The
available technology made it difficult to recover cargo in environments like rocky lee shores and
shallow reefs, which were common sites for ships to be driven ashore. The sea conditions in these
areas made it difficult for divers to work from their boats and it was seldom possible to use a diving
bell.[33]

In the fourth century BCE, Aristotle described the principle of the diving bell, and there is a well-
known claim that Alexander the great once dived in one. In 1531, Guglielmo Lorena used a bell to
explore Caligula's pleasure barges, which had sunk in Lake Nemi near Rome.[33]

17th century diving bells extended the time that divers could remain underwater compared to free
divers working from the surface, but they were expensive and cumbersome, too dependent on a
large support team and boat with lifting gear, and the diver had to work with hooks and grapples to
reach sunken objects not directly under the bell, or make breathhold excursions. There were no
diving masks available to improve underwater vision, and only ambient light was available, so much
of the work was done by feel if visibility was poor, and there was little thermal protection for the
diver. A cast copper diving bell used by Francisco Nunez Melián in 1624 for salvage of the cargo of
the Santa Margarita in the Florida Keys is recorded to have weighed 680 lb (310 kg) and cost 5000
reales.[33]
The Swedish warship Vasa sank in Stockholm's harbour on its maiden voyage in 1628. Early
attempts to refloat the vessel were unsuccessful. In 1658, Albrecht von Treileben was contracted by
King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to salvage the ship. Between 1663 and 1665, von Treileben's
divers were successful in raising most of the bronze cannon, working from a diving bell.[34]

Von Treileben's bell was made of lead, about five feet high, and about the five feet wide at the base,
with a small platform suspended from it on which the diver stood. The diver was protected from the
cold to some extent by a leather suit, and could work at a depth of 100 feet (30 m) for up to about
half an hour, though usually somewhat less.[33]

In 1673, the town of Newcastle upon Tyne contracted Edmund Custis to clear the mouth of the River
Tyne of several wrecks of colliers, which had sunk in a spring flood. He accomplished this by
exploding a large amount of gunpowder (7 casks) detonated through a tube leading above the
surface with a primer charge at the bottom. This was effective in clearing the passage.[33]

In 1687, Sir William Phipps used an inverted container as a diving bell to recover £200,000 worth of
treasure from a Spanish ship sunk off the coast of San Domingo.[35]

The astronomer Edmond Halley built a diving bell in 1691 to examine a wreck off the south coast of
England, using a system of weighted barrels and tubes to replenish the air in the bell. Though Halley
is generally credited with this device, there is evidence that a similar system was used in the Vasa
salvage some decades earlier. Halley claimed to have dived to 9 to 10 fathoms (16 to 18 m) for over
an hour and a half without any injuries.[33]

Two Englishmen, John Lethbridge and Jacob Rowe, invented what they called "diving engines",
which they successfully used for a few decades. These were wooden or metal cylinders with glass
viewports and armholes sealed to the diver by leather sleeves. The breathing air supply was the air
sealed inside at the surface, and carbon dioxide buildup would continue during the dive, becoming
unbearable after about half an hour, at which point it could be replenished at the surface by flushing
with a bellows. These devices were early forerunners of atmospheric diving suits, as the interior
remained at surface pressure. The main difference between these suits was that Lethbridge's was
made of wood staves with straight sides, while Rowe used copper with a backward curve from the
knees to the feet.[33]

Lethbridge and Rowe salvaged recent wrecks of Dutch East Indiamen with considerable success
because the locations were well known, and the ships were outward bound carrying silver to buy
trade goods in the East. To take advantage of seasonal winds, ships would depart at predictable
times twice per year, and took a route around the north of the Shetland Islands, with stops at
Madeira or the Cape Verde Islands and Cape Town. Consequently, most of the ships that were
wrecked ended up on the same group of reefs.[33]

Lethbridge and Rowe worked together on the outward bound British East Indiaman Vansittart, which
had been wrecked in the Cape Verde Islands in 1719. They recovered a large amount of silver, ingots
of lead, iron guns and anchors. Thereafter, Lethbridge made some unsuccessful searches for
wrecks off the south coast of England, then took a contract with the VOC in Madeira on the Slot ter
Hooge, followed by more successful missions in South Africa around Cape Town.[33]

Rowe moved north to Scotland, and after some unsuccessful work on a ship from the Spanish
Armada, got to work salvaging another recent VOC wreck, the Adelaar, with considerable success.
The "diving engines" were quite effective when used by their designers, but do not appear ever to
have been upgraded, and the type was never used by any later salvors.[33]

Within twelve days of the sinking of the Mary Rose in 1545, a salvage attempt was started under the
direction of two Italians, who attempted to apply the tidal lift technique, using two large merchant
ships Jesus of Lübeck and Samson, each rated at 700 tons, and lightened as much as possible to
serve as lifting pontoons. They only managed to dislodge the mainmast being used as the lifting
point, later being abandoned. Similar unsuccessful attempts were made to raise the Vasa in 1628
and the Royal George in 1783. These attempts were made challenging by being made on some of
the largest ships of their time.[33]

19th century

The era of modern salvage operations was inaugurated with the development of the first surface
supplied diving helmets by inventors Charles and John Deane as well as Augustus Siebe, in the
1830s. HMS Royal George, a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, sank undergoing
routine maintenance work in 1782, and the Deane brothers were commissioned to perform salvage
work on the wreck. Using their new pumped air diving helmets, they managed to recover about two
dozen cannons.

Following on from this success, Colonel of the Royal Engineers Charles Pasley commenced the first
large scale salvage operation in 1839. His plan was to break up the wreck of Royal George with
gunpowder charges and then salvage as much as possible using divers.
 The sinking of Royal George

Pasley's diving salvage operation set many diving milestones, including the first recorded use of the
buddy system in diving, when he ordered that his divers operate in pairs. In addition, the first
emergency swimming ascent was made by a diver after his air line became tangled and he had to
cut it free. However, the first medical account of a helmet squeeze was suffered by a Private
Williams—the early diving helmets used had no non-return valves on the breathing air supply hose;
this meant that if a hose became severed near or above the surface, the high-pressure air around
the diver's head rapidly escaped from the helmet leaving a large pressure difference between the
water and the suit and helmet interior that tended to force the diver into rigid interior of the helmet.
At the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in 1842, Sir John Richardson
described the diving apparatus and treatment of diver Roderick Cameron following an injury that
occurred on 14 October 1841 during the salvage operations.[36]

Pasley recovered 12 more guns in 1839, 11 more in 1840, and six in 1841. In 1842, he recovered
only one iron 12-pounder because he ordered the divers to concentrate on removing the hull timbers
rather than search for guns. Other items recovered in 1840 included the surgeon's brass
instruments, silk garments of satin weave 'of which the silk was perfect', and pieces of leather; but
no woolen clothing.[37] By 1843, the whole of the keel and the bottom timbers had been raised and
the site was declared clear.[38]

20th century

From 1917–1924, 44 tons of gold bullion were recovered from the SS Laurentic sunk off Lough
Swilly by a German mine on 25 January 1917.[39] Guybon Chesney Castell Damant's team were
successful in recovering all but 25 of the 3211 bars of gold. As of 2023, the salvage is the largest
recovery of sunken gold by weight in history.[40]

The largest marine salvage operation on record was the raising of the German High Seas Fleet
which was scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919. Between 1922–1939, 45 of the 52 warships sunk: six
battleships, five battlecruisers, five cruisers, and 32 destroyers. They were raised from depths of up
to 45 metres (0.028 mi), primarily by Cox & Danks & Metal Industries, and broken up for scrap.[41]

The torretta butoscopica closed

observation bell

SS Egypt was a P&O ocean liner that sank after a collision with SS Seine on 20 May 1922 in the
Celtic Sea, with a cargo that included gold and silver bullion and gold sovereigns worth over £1
million.: 136 After the wreck was found in 1930, a salvage operation recovered most of the cargo of
gold and silver. Giovanni Quaglia from the Genoese company Società Ricuperi Marittimi (So.Ri.Ma.)
used the ship Artiglio. A specially-built armoured suit, or observation bell, called torretta butoscopica,
was used with a diver inside who was able to direct the salvage operations and the placing of
explosives to blast the ship open to expose the strong room. The diver then directed a grab which
picked up the gold and silver. The salvage continued until 1935, when 98% of the contents of the
strongroom had been recovered.: 152

In April 1941, in the face of British Army advances in the East African campaign, Italian Rear Admiral
Mario Bonetti successfully blocked the Red Sea harbour of Massawa by scuttling 18 large
commercial ships, 13 smaller coastal vessels, a floating crane, and two critically important dry
docks. British planners quickly initiated salvage operations to restore usefulness to the strategic
harbour. However, the British civilian salvage team spent a fruitless year struggling against the
oppressive heat and humidity, which persistently caused multiple industrial air compressors to fail,
dropping half-floated ships back to the harbour silt. Progress was at a standstill until the American
salvage expert Edward Ellsberg arrived in April 1942 to work in parallel. Ellsberg's team opened the
harbour and restored the largest dry dock to service in less than six weeks, and many of the
blockships were refloated by Ellsberg over the next several months, as the British civilian contractor
continued to fail in every salvage attempt. Ellsberg wrote about his experience in the 1946 book
Under the Red Sea Sun.[42]

As part of the harbour clearance and ship recovery after the attack on Pearl Harbor, USS California
and USS West Virginia, resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, were refloated
and repaired.[43] They were key participants in the Battle of Surigao Strait in October 1944.[44]

In 1943–1944, the Great Lakes salvage engineer, Captain John Roen, did what was considered
financially impossible and salvaged SS George M. Humphrey, which sank in a collision in 23 metres
(77 ft) of water in the Straits of Mackinac, by first removing the ore it was carrying and then using
two vessels on each side of the underwater wreck, with cables that "walked" George M. Humphrey in
stages underwater to shallower water where it was then pumped out and re-floated and towed out.
Some of the techniques developed by Roen for the salvage of George M. Humphrey established
methods which became new standards for future salvages, where before many wrecks were
considered too heavy and large to salvage.[45]

The Swedish 17th-century warship Vasa was raised between 1957 and April 1961 as a historical
artifact of national importance. It had been lying on the bottom of Stockholm harbour since
capsizing on its maiden voyage in 1628.[46]

The raising and subsequent conservation of Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of King Henry VIII,
which sank in 1545 in the Solent, North of the Isle of Wight. As with Vasa, the salvage of Mary Rose
in 1982 was an operation of immense complexity and was a major achievement in marine
archaeology. The remains of the ship, together with recovered weapons, sailing equipment and
crew's personal effects are now on display at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the nearby Mary
Rose Museum.

In 1968, Shipwrecks Inc., headed by E. Lee Spence, was granted South Carolina State Salvage
License No. 1 to salvage the wreck of the American Civil War blockade runner SS Georgiana under
that state's new underwater antiquities act, which had been drafted and passed at the instigation of
Spence, who had discovered the wreck in 1965. Spence's work on the wreck was some of the first
underwater archaeology done in the United States.[47][48] Shipwrecks Inc. raised over 1,000,000
individual artifacts, conservatively valued at over $12,000,000. The artifacts ranged from tiny brass
sewing pins and glass buttons to heavy iron cannons and included such things as cannonballs,
bullets, bottles, pottery, carved bone toothbrushes, pencils, match cases, and Wedgwood china.[49]

In 1974, the U.S. CIA attempted to recover the sunken Soviet Golf-class submarine K-129 in the
secret and expensive intelligence operation Project Azorian. The attempt was reported to be only
partially successful.
Nuestra Señora de Atocha was discovered in 1985 with recovered gold and other artifacts worth an
estimated US$400 million.[50]

Recovery of debris and crew of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 off Florida after it disintegrated
shortly after liftoff due to a mechanical defect.[51]

The SS Central America, which sank in 1857 carrying 14,000 kilograms (30,000 lb) of gold, was
discovered in 1988.[52] Salvage efforts remain incomplete.

There has been a search for the wreckage and flight data recorders of South African Airways Flight
295 at 4,900 metres (16,000 ft) near Mauritius, and the recovery of some wreckage and the cockpit
voice recorder.[53]

The external tank used on Space Shuttle mission STS-71[54] was involved in an at-sea rescue which
resulted in a historic court case.[55] The tank was being delivered by barge to the launch site in
November 1994, when the tow vehicle encountered issues in Hurricane Gordon. Their mayday signal
was picked up by the oil tanker Cherry Valley, which responded and towed the tug and its cargo to
safety.[56] NASA offered $5 million to the crew of the tanker (the salvors) as a reward, but the United
States Department of Justice reduced the offer to $1 million.[56] The tanker company and crew sued
and were awarded $6.4 million, believed to be the largest such award in U.S. history.[56] This was
reduced to $4.125 million on appeal.[55] The crew split the award with their employer. At least one
crew member was able to use his cut of the proceeds to buy a house, which he calls "the house that
NASA bought."[56] The case has been the subject of at least one law review article analyzing the
economics of salvage.[57]

21st century

On 12 August 2000, the Russian Oscar-class submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea following an
internal explosion, leading to the death of 118 crew-members. A portion of the destroyed submarine
was raised to the surface in 2001 to recover the bodies and eliminate the hazard from Kursk 's two
nuclear reactors.[58]
 USS Cole being carried by MV Blue Marlin

USS Cole was severely damaged in October 2000 by terrorists while it was harboured in the Yemeni
port of Aden. It was salvaged, transported back to the US on the heavy transport ship Blue Marlin,
and repaired to serve again.[59]

In July 2002, HMS Nottingham suffered serious damage due to a navigational error, striking Wolf
Rock near Lord Howe Island. It was towed, stern first to Newcastle, New South Wales, in August
2002 for minor repairs,[60] and was consequently returned to the United Kingdom aboard the heavy
lifting vessel MV Swan.[61]

In July 2006, the Japanese car carrier MV Cougar Ace, carrying 4,700 Mazda cars and Isuzu trucks
bound for the North American market, was traveling from Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia,
when during an exchange of ballast water south of the Aleutian Islands, the car carrier lost stability
and developed a 60° list to port. The ship's condition quickly began to deteriorate as it took on
water. The salvage team worked for 24 days to save the vessel and its cargo.[62]

In May 2007, Odyssey Marine Exploration undertook the Black Swan Project and recovered an
estimated US$500 million in silver and gold coins from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean.[63]
However, the wreck and its contents were claimed by the Spanish government.[64] A legal dispute
through United States Federal Courts was resolved in February 2012, when it was reported that U.S.
Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo had ordered Odyssey to return the coins to Spain by 24 February 2012
for dispersal to museums, not to heirs. The Supreme Court declined to stay this order and Odyssey
has agreed to abide by the decision.[65] In 2021, Phoenix International Holdings, Inc. (Phoenix),
under the direction of the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), located and
recovered the fuselage of a downed MH-60 Seahawk helicopter in the Philippine Sea from a record
breaking depth of 5,814 metres (19,075 ft) beneath the surface. This is 81 metres (266 ft) deeper
than the previous salvage record, also set by Phoenix and SUPSALV during the recovery of a C-2
Greyhound aircraft in 2019.[66]
Technological advances

Progress of salvage capacity depends on accumulated knowledge, new ideas and their application,
and the demand for services. The technological evolution of the late 20th century included:[24]: Ch. 1

Surface and underwater navigational systems that allow precise definition of target location and
consistent return to the position,

Search systems that facilitate fine-grained searches over large areas at greater depths,

Imaging systems for identification and inspection of bottom objects and definition of debris
fields,

Seafloor mapping systems that precisely define bottom topography,

Compact, high-efficiency camera and optical systems that can produce near-daylight conditions
with far-reaching penetration in clear seawater,

Submersibles and atmospheric diving systems that allow manned salvage operations beyond the
ambient pressure diving depth limits,

ROVs for unmanned, long-duration salvage operations at virtually any depth,

AUVs for long range search at virtually any depth, unaffected by surface conditions,[29]

Lightweight, high-strength fiber optic umbilicals for high bandwidth command, control and data
transmission,

Acoustic communication links, for through-water data transfer

High-strength, low density, synthetic lift lines, almost unaffected by self-weight, as the specific
gravity is usually close to that of water, and unjacketed ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) (Spectra or Dyneema) will float,[67]

Ship motion compensating systems, which can minimise shock loading and resonance problems
in lifting cables,

Dynamic positioning systems for surface ships, which allow precise station keeping,

Satellite communication systems.

See also

Brussels Convention on Assistance and Salvage at Sea – International convention on maritime

assistance and salvage
 Damage control (maritime) – Emergency management of situations which may cause the loss of
a ship

Emergency tow vessel – Type of ship used for towing disabled vessels across high seas to safe
waters

International Convention on Salvage – 1989 treaty on maritime assistance and salvage

Lifting bag – Airtight bag used for underwater buoyant lifting when filled with air

Maritime archaeology – Archaeological study of human interaction with the sea

Maritime law – Law of the oceans and their use

Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks – International treaty allowing

removal of hazardous shipwrecks in the Exclusive Economic Zone

Receiver of Wreck – Official who administers law dealing with maritime wrecks and salvage

Rescue and salvage ship – Type of military salvage tug

Salvage diving – Diving work associated with the recovery of vehicles, cargo and structures

Salvage tug – Specialized type of tugboat

Scuttling – Act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull

Search and rescue – Search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent
danger

Shipwreck – Physical remains of a beached or sunk ship

Submarine rescue ship – Support ship for submarine rescue and deep-sea salvage operations

Treasure hunting – Physical search for treasure

USS Arizona salvaged artifacts – List of salvaged artifacts from the sunken US battleship Arizona

Wreck diving – Recreational diving on wrecks

Wrecking (shipwreck) – Community salvage of shipwrecks

People

Charles Anthony Deane – Pioneering diving engineer and inventor of a surface supplied diving
helmet

Michael Hatcher – British explorer and marine salvor (born 1940)

Augustus Siebe – British engineer mostly known for his contributions to diving equipment
 E. Lee Spence – Underwater archaeologist

Notes

1. salvor: A person or company involved in salvage activities.

2. ground reaction force: The force between a stranded vessel and the ground it rests on. It is the
difference between the weight of the vessel and its buoyancy in the prevailing situation, and
may cause friction resisting an attempt to tow it off.

3. ground leg: The mooring assembly between the ground to which it is anchored, and the hauling
gear.

4. hauling gear: The equipment which takes up the slack and exerts tension in the ground tackle.

5. purchase: A system of cables and sheave blocks rigged to provide a mechanical advantage.

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18. Grotius (1950). De Iure Praedae Commentarius (On the Law of Prize and Booty). Oxford: Oxford
University Press. p. 164. stating the purpose of Italian prize law is to compensate for the
expense incurred, risk taken, and labor performed.

19. Upton (1863). Maritime Warfare and Prize. New York: John Voorhies. pp. 234–35. discussing
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20. Brown, James Scott, ed. (1923). "The Mary Ford". Prize Cases Decided in the United States
Supreme Court. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 130. (seminal 1796 decision on the law of salvage
that American rescuers who found a wrecked and abandoned French vessel adrift without sails
or rigging could not condemn her as a prize, but were entitled as salvors to the judge's
estimate of fair compensation based on time lost, labor, risk taken, and mental and physical
suffering—to induce mariners to undertake the peril and expense of rescue at sea).

21. Practical Guide to Salvage and Places of Refuge. Livingston: Witherby Publishing Group. 2022.
p. 133. ISBN 978-1-914992-65-0.

22. Practical Guide to Salvage and Places of Refuge. Livingston: Witherby Publishing Group. 2022.
p. 135. ISBN 978-1-914992-65-0.

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Further reading

Madsen, Daniel (2003), Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor, US Naval Institute
Press, ISBN 978-1-55750-488-3.
 Milwee, William (1996), Modern Marine Salvage, Cornell Maritime Press.

Tew, Ian (2007), Salvage, A personal odyssey, Seafarer Books, Sheridan House.

Practical Guide to Salvage and Places of Refuge, Livingston: Witherby Publishing Group, 2022,
ISBN 978-1-914992-65-0

External links

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Wrecksite (http://www.wrecksite.eu) (Worldwide free database of 65,000 wrecks with timelines,

maritime charts, and GPS positions)

The International Convention on Salvage 1989 (complete text PDF) (https://web.archive.org/web/

20160303224755/http://www.safesea.com/_literature_24975/SALCON_89)