Only one party has salvage rights

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 1

Only one party has salvage rights

(By

OLIVER RIDDELL)

The Acheron is the only vessel at present off the coast of the Auckland Islands whose crew and passengers have a permit from the Department of Lands and Survey to land there. A report from the Acheron yesterday said that another boat had appeared off the coast where the Acheron is attempting to salvage gold from the General Grant. The department’s assistant divisional officer of the Reserves Division (Mr W. T. Devine) said in Wellington that the Lands Department did not know the name of the other vessel and that the vessel did not have a permit to land. A permit to land is needed

under the Reserves and Domains Act, 1953, and the Acheron’s permit includes Commander John Grattan, the crew, the divers and the film crew. The department sent its senior ranger from Fiordland National Park (Mr J. Gardiner) on board the Acheron to facilitate the landing of parties. There is no permanent party of department staff on the islands. Mr Devine said the permit was more or less standard. It required precautions to be taken against the introduction of rodents, to ensure that clothing and gear are free of any seeds, not to disturb any graves or archaeological sites (of which there were quite a few) on the

i islands, not to carry firearms i or explosives, not to inter- > fere with the fauna or flora, , and not to damage any signs. : Anyone landing on the islands without a permit . could be prosecuted, he said, [ but the department considered that Mr Gardiner would : be able to Look after its ; interests. Mr Gardiner had the authority to permit or refuse landing rights as his supervising facilities allowed. No assistance can be given the Acheron in her dispute with a rival vessel interested in the presumed wreck of tire General Grant, the Marine Division of the Ministry of Transport said in Wellington today. The senior executive officer of the Marine Division (Mr R. L. Keats) confirmed that the division had received

a radio message from the Acheron “requesting assistance in preventing her (the other vessel) hindering the expedition” but said that it was “impracticable to give assistance.” Mr Keats considered it was not surprising that other people were taking an interest in the wreck in view of the publicity the O’Farrell expedition had received. "The wreck is, for the purposes of salvage, presumed to be the property of the Crown and it is customary for salvage operators to operate under contract,” he said. Asked if there was a eontrace between the operators and the Crown in this case, Mr Keats said an agreement had been drawn up between the parties. No other agreement had been entered into,

and the Marine Division would not enter into two agreements at the same time.

It was usual to let an agreement run for a year for the recovery of nonferrous metals such' as gold, copper and bronze, and then to consider anyone else waiting. The terms of the agreement between the division and the O’Farrell syndicate require the operators to give details of what has been found and where it was found, for historical purposes. The agreement also provides the proportions to be allocated to each party — 90 per cent to the operators and 10 per cent to the Crown — but adds a number of qualifications.

“Under the pretty substantial international case law involving salvage, the oper-

ators would be entitled to reasonable costs and expenses anyway,” said Mr Keats.

“In this case, the agreement specifies the proportions to be claimed, but these proportions will only be allocated after 12 months has elapsed to give anyone else time to lodge a claim against all or any part of what is recovered. “The wreck of the General Grant has lain there since 1866, but it is still possible someone or some people may have a claim against what is there and, if this claim is proven, it will be handed over before the proportions are allocated,” he said. All property is deemed to be owned by someone and, in the case of a wreck, for

which no owners come forward, it is the prerogative of the Crown to assume ownership. It is the function of the Marine Division to restore the property to its owner, or to hand it to the Crown if no owner’s claim is substantiated, and to compensate the salvors for their efforts. In the case of the General Grant, the Crown and the salvors have already reached agreement on the apportionment of the property. Mr Keats said that if any party with whom the Marine Division had no agreement secured property from the wreck of the General Grant, then the division would assume custody of the property on behalf of the Crown.