The saving. The property must be effectu ally saved ; it must be brought to some port of safety, and it must be there in a state ca pable of being restored to the owner, before the service can be deemed completed ; The Henry Ewbank, 1 Sumn. 417, Fed. Cas. No. 6,376 ; 1 W. Rob. 329, 406; The Angeline An derion, 35 Fed. 796 ; The Golden Gate, 57 Fed. 661. The salvage services must be per formed by persons not bound by their legal duty to render them ; 1 Hagg. Adm. 227 ; 2 Spinks, Adm. 253. The property must be sav ed by the instrumentality of the asserted salvors, or their services must contribute in some certain degree to save it ; Clarke v. The Dodge Healy, 4 Wash. C. 0. 651, Fed. Cas. No. 2,849 ; Olc. 462 ; though, if the services were rendered on the request of the master or owner, the salvor is entitled to salvage though the services were slight and the prop erty was saved mainly by a providential act; McGinnis v. The Pontiac, 5 McLean 359, 1 Newb. 130, Fed. Cas. No. 8,801; 2 W. Rob.
91; Allen v. The Canada, Bee 90, Fed. Cas. No. 219.
Towage services are sometimes the sub ject of compensation as salvage. Mere ex pediting the voyage of a vessel, by towing, is not salvage ; but salvage was allowed in the case of a steamship who had broken her main shaft, but could sail fairly well, the weather also being favorable, in which con dition she was towed ninety miles ; 1 Spinks, A. & E. 169, said to be the extreme case ; Kennedy, Civil Salvage 22 ; courts are liberal to such claims in respect of the amount of danger necessary to render towage a salvage source ; id.
The assistance into port of an ocean steam er Carrying passengers which was disabled by the loss of her propeller is a salvage serv ice; The Roanoke, 209 Fed. 114.
The place. In England it has been held that the services must be rendered on the high seas, or, at least, extra corpus comita tus, but in this country it is held that the district courts of the United States have ju risdiction to decree salvage for services ren dered on tide waters and on the lakes or rivers where interstate or foreign commerce is carried on, although infra corpus comita Ns; Frets v. Bull, 12 How. (U. S.) 466, 13 L. Ed. 1068 ; The A. D. Patchin, 1 Blatchf. 420; Fed. No. 87. Extinguishing a fire on a vessel in a dry dock is ground of sal vage; The Jefferson, 215 U. S. 130, 30 Sup. Ct. 54, 54 L. Ed. 125, 17 Ann. Cas. 907.
The a' mount. Some foreign states have fixed by law the amount or proportion to be paid for salvage services ; but in England and the United States no such rule has been established. In these countries the amount rests in the sound discretion of the court awarding the salvage, upon a full considera tion of all the facts of the case. It generally far exceeds a mere remuneration pro operc et labore, the excess being intended, upon prin ciples of sound policy, not only as a reward to the particular salvor, but also as an in ducement to others to render like services; Mason v. The Blaireau, 2 Cra. (U. S.) 240, 2
L. Ed. 266 ; 1 C. Rob. 312, n.; 3 id. 355; 3 Elagg. Adm. 95. But it is equally the policy of the law not to provoke the salvor's ap petite of avarice, nor encourage his exorbi tant demands, nor teach him to stand ready to devour what the ocean has spared ; Hand v. The Elvira, Gilp. 75, Fed. iCas. No. 6,015. Adequate rewards encourage the tendering and acceptance of salvage services ; exorbi tant demands discourage their acceptance and tend to augment the risk and loss of ves sels in distress. 7 Notes of Cas. 579, Sal vage viewed as a reward is not properly the •subject of a binding contract in advance. Courts of admiralty fully examine into the circumstances of the service in the interest of the property saved, and award no more than a reasonable sum, and are not bound by the amount agreed on beforehand; The Schied am, 48 Fed. 923. But a salvage agreement for services to be performed on the high seas will not be set aside merely because only one of the contracting parties was at a disad vantage. But, if in addition to that circum stance, the sum required by the intending salvor appears to the court exorbitant, the agreement will be set aside as inequitable ; [1891] P. 175. The amount is determined by a consideration of the peril to which the property was exposed, the value saved, the risk to life or property incurred by the sal vors, their skill, the extent of labor or time eraproyed, and the extent of the necessity that may exist in any particular locality to encourage salvage services; 3 Hagg. Adm. 121; The Henry Ewbank, 1 Sumn. 413, Fed. Cas. No. 6,376 ; The James T. Abbott, 2 Sprague 102, Fed. Cas. No. 7,202. An ancient rule of the admiralty allowed the salvors one half of the property saved, when it was ab solutely derelict or abandoned ; but that rule has been latterly distinctly repudiated by the high court of admiralty and our supreme court, and the reward in cases of derelict is now governed by the same principles as in other salvage cases ; 20 E. L. & E. 607; Post v. Jones, 19 How. (U. S.) 161, 15 L. Ed. 618. While there is no rule of giving salvors of a derelict a moiety, or other specific proportion of the value of the property saved, and the award is to be assessed as in other cases of salvage, still there are usually present three special elements which tend to increase the award : the high degree of danger to which the property is exposed ; the difficulty of ap proaching a derelict vessel without any aid in boarding her ; and the necessity of supplying men to steer her; [1897] Pr. Div. 59. But it is usual to give half of the value, and even seven-eighths have been given. See The Jo sephine, 2 Blateh. 323, Fed. Cas. No. 7,546.