Although a ship on board which, or by means of which a man was killed, might be a deodand (q.v.), yet qua wreck she was not subject to forefeiture as deodand.
The provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act dealing with wreck are of a detailed and administrative character and are concerned with the duties of the Board of Trade, receivers of wreck, finders of wreck and other matters. They will be found in part IX. of the act and are included in ss. 510-537.
The owner of a wrecked ship, sunk by his negligence in a navi gable highway, so as to be an obstruction to navigation, if he re tains the ownership of her, is liable in damages to the owner of any other ship which without negligence runs into her, unless he has taken steps to indicate her position, or the harbour authority at his request has undertaken to do so. He may, however (whether the sinking was due to his negligence or not), abandon the ship, and can thus free himself from any further liability in respect of her. If he abandons her to any other person—e.g., an under writer—who pays for her as for a total loss, that person does not become liable for her unless he takes possession or control in any way. Harbour authorities generally have under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, or by local statute, as they have by the general Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act, 1847 (if incor porated in their own act), the power of removing the wreck in such a case, and recouping themselves for their expenses from its proceeds. The general act also gives a personal right of action against the owner for any balance of expense over the value of the wreck; but if the owner has abandoned it, and no one else has taken it, neither he nor anyone else is liable. A particular or local act (as e.g., one of the State of Victoria) may however, fasten this liability on the person who is owner at the time when the ship is wrecked, and then he cannot free himself of it. A
harbour authority is not obliged to remove a wreck because it has power to do so, unless it takes dues from vessels using the harbour where the wreck lies, or in some way warrants that the harbour is safe for navigation, in which case it is under an obligation to do so. Further statutory provision is now made in this respect by the Merchant Shipping Act, which empowers harbour authorities to raise, remove or destroy (and meantime buoy or light), or to sell and reimburse themselves out of the proceeds of any vessel or part of a vessel, her tackle, cargo, equipment and stores, sunk, stranded or abandoned in any water under their control, or any approach thereto, which is an obstruction or danger to navigation or lifeboat service. They must first give due notice of such in tention, and must allow the owner to have the wreck on his pay ing the fair market value. The act gives similar powers to light house authorities, with a provision that any dispute between a harbour and lighthouse authority in this respect is to be deter mined finally by the Board of Trade.
By an Act of 1896 it is now the duty of the master of a British ship to report to Lloyd's agent, or to the secretary of Lloyd's, any floating derelict ship which he may fall in with at sea. By the Merchant Shipping Convention Act, 1914, a master must on finding a wreck communicate with the shore. But the operation of the act was suspended by order in council till Jan. 1,1929. It will supersede previous acts when it comes into force. Under the Merchant Shipping Act it is a felony to take wreck found in ter ritorial limits to a foreign port, and it is punishable by fine to interfere with a wreck. The receiver has power, by means of a search warrant from a justice, to search for wreck which he has reason to believe is concealed. By the law of Scotland plundering wreck is punishable at common law; and in England and Ireland it is a felony to plunder or steal any wreck or part thereof, to de stroy any wreck or part thereof, to preyent or impede any person on board a wreck from saving himself, and to exhibit any false signal with the intent of endangering any ship, or to do anything tending to the immediate loss or destruction of a ship for which no other punishment is provided.