Klein v. Unidentified Wrecked and Abandoned Sailing Vessel

In recent years, the validity of the traditional maritime salvage law rule concerning property abandoned on the high seas has been increasingly criticized when applied to conflicting claims of ownership over shipwrecks on the ocean floor. Under traditional salvage law theory, the abandonment of property does not divest the original owner of title1. Anyone reducing the property to his possession is entitled to a salvage award, which may include the entire derelict property2; but the salvor