Note 11 — Hints respecting the Conduct of the Captain and his Mates.

According to the ancient law, goods cast on shore by the waves belonged to the King: but the rigour of this law has since been wisely mitigated in favour of the distressed proprietors: and it is now held, that, not only if any living animal escape, but if proof can be made of the property of any of the goods cast on shore, within a year and a day, they shall not be forfeited as a legal wreck, but kept in the custody of the Sheriff, during that period, unless previously claimed by the proprietor. If the goods be of a perishable nature, the Sheriff may sell them, and the purchase-money shall be liable in their stead.

2. Whoever shall secret any goods from a wreck shall forfeit treble their value. To steal even a plank from a ship in distress, says Judge Blackstone, renders the party liable to answer for the whole vessel and cargo.

3. Whoever perpetrates any wilful act, by which the ship is lost, or plunders the vessel in distress, or prevents the escape of any of the sufferers, or hangs out false lights, to decoy a vessel into danger, is declared by the law to be guilty of a capital felony, without benefit of clergy.

4. It is also enacted, that all head officers on the coast shall, on application being made to them, instantly summon as many persons as are necessary to the relief of any ship in distress, on forfeiture of one hundred pounds. And, in case of due assistance given, salvage shall be paid by the owners, to be assessed by the neighbouring justices.

5. The income of wrecks being generally granted by the King to the Lord of the Manor, as a royal franchise, is seldom, it is hoped, rigorously claimed, but rather given up to the distressed sufferers. Such claims, however, might be easily compromised, as the right owner, if discovered any time within a full twelvemonth, can supersede the Lord of the Manor, or any other claimant, and by virtue of this law recover his property.