In order to create a right to salvage lives or property saved must have been in danger—either in immediate peril, or in a posi tion of "difficulty and reasonable apprehension." Danger to the salvor is not essential, though it enhances his claim to reward. Again, the service must have helped towards saving the lives or property. Ineffectual efforts, however strenuous and meritorious, do not give rise to a claim. But the service need not be com pletely successful. If it has contributed to an ultimate rescue it will be rewarded, though that may have been accomplished by others. And as we have seen, there must have been ultimate suc cess. Some of the property involved in the adventure must have been saved. And its value, or the fund realized by its sale, limits the total of the awards to all the salvors. Cases, of course, occur in which services at sea are employed by ships in danger : as where a steamer with a broken propeller shaft employs another steamer to tow her ; or where a vessel which has lost her anchors employs another to procure anchors for her from shore. In such cases the conditions of reward above set out may not apply. Reward may be payable, notwithstanding entire failure or success, by the express or implied terms of the employment. But such a reward is not truly "salvage." Services that are rendered in the performance of a duty do not bestow a claim to salvage. Thus the crew cannot (while still the crew) be salvors of the ship or cargo; nor can the passengers, unless they have voluntarily stayed on the ship for the pur pose of saving her. Nor can a pilot employed as such be sal vor, unless he has boarded a vessel in such exceptional cir cumstances that his doing so for pilotage fees could not reason ably be expected ; or unless the circumstances of the service, en tered upon as pilotage, have so changed as to alter its character.
Again, the owners and crew of a tug employed to tow a ship cannot claim salvage for rescuing her from danger which may arise during towage, unless circumstances have supervened which were not contemplated, and are such as to require extraordinary aid from the tug, or to expose her to extraordinary risk. Officers and crew of a ship of the royal navy may, with consent of the Admiralty, recover salvage when they have rendered services out side the protection which their ship ought to afford. No claim, however, can be made in respect of the ship herself, except she be specially equipped with salvage plant.
The reward depends first, on the degree of the danger to the property salved, on its value, and on the effect of the services ren dered; next, on the risks run by the salvors, the length and se verity of their efforts, the enterprise and skill displayed, and on the value and efficiency of the vessel or apparatus they have used, and the risks to which they have exposed her. Negligent or improper conduct of the salvors will cause a diminution or total disallowance of the award.
In apportioning the award given for a salvage service among the owners, master and crew of the vessel by means of which it has been rendered, the special circumstances of each case have to be considered. In nearly all cases a large portion goes to the owners. and as in recent times the value and efficiency of ships (especially of steamships) have increased, so the proportion of the whole usually awarded to the owners has also increased. In an ordinary case of salvage by a steamship towing a distressed ship into safety, the share of the owners has often been about three-fourths; of the remainder the master usually gets about one-third, and the officers and crew divide the rest in proportion to their ratings. But where the salving ship has sustained special damage in the service, or her owners have been put to loss by it, that is taken into considera tion. On the other hand, where special personal services have been rendered by members of the crew they are specially rewarded.
An agreement as to the salvage to be paid is sometimes made at the time the assistance is given. When made fairly the court will act upon it, though it may turn out to be a bad bargain for one or other of the parties. But if the facts were not correctly apprehended by one or both, or if the position was one of such difficulty that those salved had no real option as to accepting the salvor's terms, the court will set the agreement aside.
The award of salvage is generally made in one sum against ship, freight and cargo; and those interests contribute to the amount in proportion to the value saved. Each is liable to the salvors for his own share, and for no more. If, however, the shipowner pays the cargo's share, he has a lien upon it for the amount. (T. G. C.) Military Salvage.—This is such a service as may become ground for a reward in a prize court for the rescue of property from the enemy in time of war. It involves the determination of two questions : first, whether the property is to be restored to its original owner• or condemned as prize to the recaptor; and second, what amount of salvage, if any, is to accompany restitution. The first question depends upon the law of nations, which may be taken to be that where a ship has been carried by an enemy infra praesidia, and especially after a sentence of condemnation, the title of the original owner is divested, and does not revest upon re capture by third parties. In such a case, therefore, iure gentium
restitution cannot be claimed. The municipal law of civilized coun tries, however, does not encourage subjects to "make reprisals upon one another," and laws are generally found, as in England, which as between subjects of that particular State provide for restitution irrespective of any change in the title to the subject matter which may have occurred. But (speaking henceforth of England) in cases which do not fall strictly within these acts, the old maritime law, which was in unison with the general law of nations, is applied by the courts. Moreover, the English Prize Acts do not apply to foreign owners of recaptured prizes, and therefore no award can be made against them unless in accordance with the law of nations. In practice the courts have acted upon the "rule of reciprocity" where recaptures have been made of the property of formal allies, dealing with them as the allied State would have dealt with Eng lish property. If a neutral vessel is recaptured restitution is always ordered, unless the vessel is in peril of condemnation or destruc tion. An exception to the rule of restitution as between British subjects is made in the case of a British ship which has been "set forth as a ship of war" by the captor, and subsequently re taken by a British ship. Such a ship is not liable to restoration, but is the prize of the recaptor. This exception, the object of which is to encourage the capture of armed ships, dates from 1793, previous acts having provided for restitution upon payment of a moiety as salvage. The condition of setting forth as a ship of war is satisfied, where under a fair semblance of authority, which is not disproved, the ship "has been used in the operations of war, and constituted a part of the naval force of the enemy." The right to salvage and the amount which will be allowed are also questions of the ius gentium, though usually governed by municipal law. In England the first statutory recognition of the right occurs in 1648, when an act of the Commonwealth provided that. British vessels captured by an enemy and retaken by British ships shall be restored upon payment of one-eighth of the value of the property in lieu of salvage, or one-half in the case of a prize "set forth as a ship of war." Since the first act, and down to the act of 1805 inclusive, a distinction has always been drawn between a recapture effected by one of the royal ships of war and a recapture by a privateer or other vessel. In the former case the allowance has always been one-eighth, in the latter it varied, but was usually one-sixth. In the act of 1692 a clause gave salvage to a privateer, rising in amount from one eighth to one-half according to the number of hours the prize had been in the enemy's possession, but this clause has disappeared since 1756. There is no provision in the present act for the pay ment of salvage, except in case of recapture by one of His Maj esty's ships, but it seems beyond question that recaptors are en titled at law to salvage, although they may hold no commission from the Crown. Similarly, salvage is awarded in the case of re capture from pirates or from a mutinous crew. In the case of royal ships the act of 1864 allows one-eighth salvage, which in cases of "special difficulty or danger" the court may increase to an amount not exceeding a quarter. (M. BT.) Mariners are not under any legal obligation to render salvage services to property in peril at sea. Salvage awards are granted by the maritime law in order to encourage them to undertake the peril and responsibility of performing such services. However, the duty of master mariners to render assistance to every person in peril at sea has been laid down by statute in the leading mari time countries (see Salvage Act of Aug. 1, 1912, c. 268, s. 2; Comp. Stat. s. 7,991). Under American law, failure of a master of a vessel to fulfil this duty renders him liable to a penalty not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both. The reward for life salvage is not so definitely provided for in American law as in England. By the Act of Aug. 1, 1912 (c. 268, s. 3; Comp. Stat. s. 7,992), salvors of human life may recover an award for such service only where a salvage award is made with respect to a salved vessel, her cargo and accessories. Salvors of life receive no award unless property is saved. A private vessel may take off the crew and passengers of a sinking liner, but unless some property is saved, no claim for salvage award will lie. But the property saved need not be saved by the salvors of human life. And if any property is saved, it matters not by whom, the salvage award on that property which, as will be hereafter remarked, usually does not exceed half of its salved value, is the fund from which the award for life salvage must be drawn (The Admiral Evans, 286 Fed. Rep. 442). It is provided by statute that with the exception of ships of war, or vessels appropriated exclusively to public service, salvors of human life who have taken part in the services are entitled to a fair share of the remuneration awarded to the salvors of the vessel, her cargo and accessories (Salvage Act of Aug. 1, 1912, c. 268, s. 3; Comp. Stat. s. 7,992).