## Facts

- Two British Royal Navy F4U-1 Corsair fighter aircraft departed from a U.S. base in Maine on a World War II training mission.
- The aircraft collided midair over Sebago Lake, Maine, and crashed into the lake; no recovery occurred at the time.
- The wrecks remained submerged for decades at a depth reported to be about 200 feet, within Maine’s inland submerged lands.
- A private salvage company claimed it located at least one aircraft using remote-operated technology and asserted unique capability to recover and restore the planes.
- The company filed an in rem action seeking (1) salvage rights under the law of salvage and (2) title under the law of finds based on alleged abandonment.
- Maine intervened, asserting state ownership/regulatory authority over submerged lands and protection of underwater historic/archaeological resources.
- The United Kingdom intervened, asserting sovereign ownership of the aircraft as military property, denying abandonment, and objecting to disturbance as a military grave site.
- The matter was presented on motions addressing admiralty jurisdiction and the availability of salvage/finds relief.

## Issues

1. Whether Sebago Lake is “navigable” for purposes of federal admiralty jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333.
2. If admiralty jurisdiction exists, whether the plaintiff may obtain salvage rights to recover the submerged aircraft.
3. Whether the plaintiff may obtain title under the law of finds by proving the aircraft were abandoned.
4. How state submerged-lands interests and a foreign sovereign’s claim of ownership affect private salvage/finds claims.

## Decision

- The court dismissed the action for lack of subject-matter admiralty jurisdiction.
- It held Sebago Lake is not navigable in interstate or foreign commerce and therefore is not within admiralty jurisdiction.
- Because admiralty jurisdiction was absent, the court declined to apply maritime doctrines of salvage or finds to grant salvage rights or title.
- The requested relief was denied, leaving the aircraft undisturbed in place subject to state and sovereign objections.

## Legal Principles

- Federal admiralty jurisdiction requires waters that, in their ordinary condition, form a highway for interstate or foreign commerce; an inland lake wholly within one state that lacks such commercial connection is outside admiralty jurisdiction.
- The law of salvage and the law of finds are maritime doctrines and are unavailable where admiralty jurisdiction is lacking.
- Military craft owned by a sovereign are generally not treated as abandoned absent clear, affirmative relinquishment; a sovereign’s active ownership claim strongly negates abandonment.
- Where admiralty does not apply, state property interests in submerged lands and state cultural-resource protections may control whether historic wrecks may be disturbed.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that the submerged Royal Navy aircraft in Sebago Lake were outside federal admiralty jurisdiction because the lake is not navigable for interstate or foreign commerce, and it therefore dismissed the in rem action and denied salvage and finds relief, effectively preventing private recovery over state and sovereign objections.


Historic Aircraft Recovery Corp. v. Wrecked & Abandoned Voight F4U-1 Corsair Aircraft, 294 F. Supp. 2d 132 (D. Me. 2003)