MARITIME AND
COASTGUARD AGENCY News Release (Press Notice: 20/09) issued by COI
News Distribution Service. 23 January 2009
The Receiver Of
Wreck today publishes her Annual Report which reveals that in
excess of 1,500 items were reported during 2008. Items reported
range from water melons to gold nuggets as well as tonnes of
timber. A total of 299 reports of wreck (droit) were received in
2008, which is a very small increase on the previous year's
figures. In 2007, 290 droits were received, not including the MSC
NAPOLI reports (since they relate to one incident and give an
artificially inflated impression of overall wreck recoveries).
Although the 299 reports received in 2008 does represent a very
slight increase on the previous year's figures, incoming
droit figures have, in general terms, declined since a peak
between 2000 and 2002.
There is no limit to the quantity of recovered wreck material
that can be reported on each droit, as long as all of the material
reported has come from the same site. Although a total of 299
droit forms were received during 2008, this actually refers to in
excess of 1,500 individual items, ranging in size from fragments
of pottery to a 3 metre long bronze cannon.
This figure of approximately 1,500 recovered items does not
include the various quantities of Ice Prince timber that were
recovered by members of the public in January of 2008. The number
of recoveries of timber reported on Ice Prince droits ranged from
one finder who had recovered one 7ft length of timber to another
who had recovered 7 tons of timber.
The Receiver Of Wreck, Alison Kentuck said,
"2008 has been a very busy year for the Receiver Of Wreck
with large scale incidents like the timber cargo from the Ice
Prince vessel in January in addition to many other interesting
smaller scale recoveries. The wide range of items reported to the
Receiver illustrates the huge variety of goods transported by sea
both today and throughout history."
Notes to Editors
1. The Receiver of Wreck is appointed by the Secretary of State
for Transport and is an official of the Maritime & Coastguard
Agency (an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport). The
main functions of the Receiver of Wreck are to administer those
parts of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 that deal with wreck and salvage.
2. The Act states that all recovered wreck material, regardless
of age, size or value, must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck.
This includes all wreck recovered from within UK territorial
waters and any wreck material brought within UK territorial waters.
3. The responsibilities of the Receiver of Wreck include dealing
with incoming reports of recovered wreck material, researching
legal ownership of wreck, ensuring that legal owners are given the
opportunity of having their property returned, facilitating
agreement to and payment of fair salvage awards, and administering
the Crown's (or grantee's) right to unclaimed wreck. In
addition to these main statutory duties, the Receiver of Wreck
also administers the Royal Prerogative for Fishes Royal and
section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 (dangerous wrecks).
4. As the UK's maritime authority, the MCA also recognises
the importance of our maritime heritage and, through the Receiver
of Wreck, actively engages with maritime heritage organisations
(both government and NGO).
5. The Merchant Shipping Act 1995 gives wreck owners one year in
which to come forward and prove their ownership of recovered wreck
material. This statutory time period means that many droits must
stay open for at least one year, although the Receiver of Wreck
does have a discretionary power to close cases within this period
in certain circumstances. This one year period begins from the
date on which the report was received rather than one year from
the date on which the salvage service was rendered.
6. The Receiver of Wreck is based at the MCA Headquarters in
Southampton and is represented at a local level by officers of HM Coastguard.
For further information contact MCA Press Office on: (023) 8032
9401 Press releases and further information is available at http://www.mcga.gov.uk