Whydah ownership

Maritime also applied for, and was granted, a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, allowing it to perform certain excavation procedures as long as it abided by "strict historic and archaeological standards. The board's regulations provide for permits to explore and salvage areas rather than wrecks, and limit the number of permits which can be granted to a single permittee to a total of one excavation and one reconnaissance permit.

See Code Mass. Third parties had applied for, and received, permits to explore and excavate adjacent areas which Maritime believed to contain scatter from the Whydah. The parties thereafter filed cross motions for summary judgment regarding title to the vessel and the applicability of G. The judge denied the Commonwealth's motion, and, in granting Maritime's motion, declared that title to the vessel is vested in Maritime and that, since G.

The Commonwealth appealed from this judgment, and we transferred the case here on our own motion. Since the Superior Court judge's decision rests on a statement of agreed facts and governing principles of law, we may draw our own inferences and decide the case according to our judgment as to the questions of law. New-buryport Soc'y for the Relief of Aged Women v. Noyes, Mass.

See Simon v. Soc'y, Mass. The conflicting assertions of title to the Whydah rest on two complementary principles of admiralty law. Maritime claims title to the vessel under the law of finds, or, alternatively, an award for recovery of the wreck under the law of salvage. The Commonwealth claims ownership of the Whydah through the legislative assertion of title in G.

The law of salvage is an ancient maritime doctrine which, unlike traditional common law, was meant to encourage the rescue of imperiled or derelict marine property by providing a liberal reward to those who recover property on or in navigable waters. See 3A M. Public policy encourages the hardy and adventurous mariner to engage in these laborious and sometimes dangerous enterprises. This doctrine assumes that the property is owned and has not been abandoned. The law of finds, on the other hand, grants title to the first party to discover and reduce to possession things found in the sea which have never been owned or property which is long-lost or abandoned.

The application of admiralty law to a claim regarding derelict property, "[u]nder usual circumstances Cobb Coin Co. Supp , S. See Treasure Salvors, Inc. Pringle, F. American courts have applied the law of finds, rather than the law of salvage, in cases involving ancient shipwrecks where no owner is likely to come forward.

See, e. Hener v. United States, F. The English common law approach to the law of finds is that title to abandoned property found on the seas is the prerogative of the crown. Treasure Salvors I, supra at The so-called American Rule is that title to recovered property or treasure rests in the finder absent a legislative exercise of the sovereign prerogative.

We conclude that, since the Whydah has rested undisturbed and undiscovered beneath the sea for nearly three centuries, it is proper to consider the wreck abandoned and accordingly to apply the law of finds. Martha's Vineyard Scuba Headquarters, Inc. Title to the wreck therefore vests in Maritime unless the sovereign prerogative has been exercised. The Commonwealth claims that G. Maritime contends that the United States, and not the Commonwealth, is sovereign of the submerged lands along the coast, and that c.

A threshold question, therefore, and one correctly decided by the Superior Court judge, concerns whether the Federal government or the Commonwealth is the sovereign. California, U. This decision arose out of an attempt by the Federal government to enjoin California from executing leases for the drilling for petroleum and mining of other natural resources in the offshore seabed.

Was there any treasure remaining inside? Would the ship and its loot ever be recovered? Gold coins recovered from the Whydah Gally by Barry Clifford and his team. Enter local underwater explorer Barry Clifford. For Clifford, the hunt for the Whydah proved too intriguing to resist. Fascinated by the tale since childhood, he was convinced it could be found.

In March , Yankee published a profile of Clifford that probed his determination to discover the wreck. In the three decades since the discovery, Clifford and his team have recovered more than , artifacts from the ship, including coins, canons, handmade weapons, and even a leg bone. Together, they tell a fascinating story about what the average early 18th-century pirate wore and how he fought.

In the summer of , the explorer opened the Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts — the only museum in the world to feature authenticated pirate ship treasure.

A 12,square-foot memorial to the old ship, it also includes a life-size replica of the original Whydah Gally. It was hijacked by pirate 'Black Jack' Bellamy, who then traveled up the coast of America, plundering as he went. The ship had been part of the Cape Cod legend for a couple of centuries before it was discovered by Clifford. The salvagers plan to return to the wreck to look for silver and gold coins, gold bars and rubies as chronicled in court documents of the trial of pirates who survived the shipwreck.

Clifford is scheduled to go before the Underwater Archaelogical board Jan. The actual site of the Tea Party is buried under tons of fill dumped into the harbor to facilitate waterfront development, but Clifford says the chests might have drifted intothe Fort Point Channel. Glen de Vries. Better batteries. HOV disguise. Van Gogh painting.

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