Water Log 17:3

Ginger M. Weston, 2L

As we enter a new century, our fascination with the history found in shipwrecks from previous centuries is growing and historic principles of maritime law remain important to determine the rights to shipwrecks in both U.S. and international waters. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently applied U.S. jurisdiction to the wreck site of the Titanic, located 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in international waters. On appeal from an injunction granting exclusive rights in the wreck to the Florida corporation R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. (RMST), the court affirmed jurisdiction over the wreck, but limited the scope of salvage rights outside U.S. waters.

The Historic Salvage Principle & Titanic
The wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 lying in international waters. Two years later, a private venture undertook the first salvage and sold the recovered artifacts and the interest in the wreck to RMST which filed an action to secure its rights to the wreck under the doctrine of salvage. The doctrine requires RMST as the salvor to demonstrate that, without an obligation to do so, it aided a distressed ship and salvaged part of the ship or cargo. For providing these services, the doctrine entitles RMST to an exclusive claim to the property and the right to retain all property until one fifth of the recovery has been collected. A right in any future salvaged property is also granted for a reasonable time.

 U.S. courts have the authority to settle competing salvage claims if the court has jurisdiction over the parties to the suit or if the salvor brings the salvaged property into the custody of the court. Because the Titanic's location is beyond U.S. maritime borders, bringing the entire property before the court was physically impossible. Thus, the court's jurisdiction rested on the principle that possession of a part of the ship can equal possession of the whole.

Claims to the Titanic
To make its salvage claim, RMST presented artifacts from the wreck to the Federal District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia to establish jurisdiction over the Titanic. RMST was granted exclusive salvage rights to the wreck and the site, as well as sole ownership of the artifacts. The court found that possession of some of the wreck was sufficient to constructively possess the entire wreck and establish U.S. federal jurisdiction.

 When challenged in 1996 by a salvage competitor, the jurisdiction of the court and injunction were upheld to prohibit any other search, survey, or salvage operations at the wreck or site.¹ RMST's right to exclude observers from the area surrounding the wreck site was challenged in 1998, when Deep Ocean Expedition (DOE) planned to carry passengers into the North Atlantic to view and photograph the Titanic. Several parties asserted claims, and RMST won a motion to prevent DOE and similar expeditions from entering the wreck site, including a 168-square-mile rectangular zone around the site.²

Fourth Circuit Appeal
DOE and one of its passengers, Haver, appealed the 1998 decision. They claimed the district court had no jurisdiction over them as parties or over the wreck itself. Even if jurisdiction existed, DOE & Haver argued, the terms of the injunction which prohibited viewing or photographing the wreck or site were overly broad. RMST responded that safety concerns in the North Atlantic, the need to protect its substantial investments in the operation, and the public interest in preventing unorganized salvage of the Titanic warranted the right to exclude others from the area.

 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the exercise of jurisdiction over the wreck in international waters, recognizing presentation of artifacts as a sufficient basis for jurisdiction over the whole of the shipwreck site. The court relied on international decisions noting the importance of such jurisdiction in facilitating salvage operations and compared it to the jurisdiction used over foreign vessels beyond territorial waters to facilitate customs control and national defense.

The court added that this type of jurisdiction is imperfect because property in international waters is shared with other nations and thus granted "nonexclusive control" over the wreck to RMST. RMST then held the right to prevent others from interfering with its salvage or conducting search, survey or salvage operations of their own as long as it continues the salvage operation. However, the court reversed the grant of exclusivity to visit, observe and photograph the salvage site as an erroneous expansion of traditional salvage law. Finally, the grant of exclusive rights to passage in international waters was also reversed and characterized by the court as an alarming expansion of salvage law frustrating free navigation on the high seas.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in October of 1999.³ Thus, the Fourth Circuit decision stands, clarifying the scope of rights available to salvors to include rights to the actual wreck, but limiting the authority to grant exclusive control over international waters and prevent free navigation in open seas. Although no other party may enter the Titanic site to search, survey, salvage or interfere with RMST's efforts, expeditions like DOE's are well within their international and maritime rights to visit, view and photograph wreck sites with ongoing salvage operations.
 

ENDNOTES

1. Titanic I, 924 F. Supp. 714, 722-24 ( E.D. Va. 1996).
2. Titanic II, 9 F. Supp.2d 624, 634 (E.D. Va. 1998).
3. R. M. S. Titanic, Inc. v. Haver, 120 S. Ct. 74 (1999) (cert. denied).

University of Mississippi