## Facts

- Northeast Research, LLC, a private underwater exploration company, discovered an intact early nineteenth-century wooden schooner in Lake Erie at roughly 170 feet.
- The cargo included grain (including wheat and barley), and the wreck appeared undisturbed for about 150 years, with no signs of prior recovery efforts.
- The vessel’s identity could not be determined with certainty; Northeast contended it was the *General Wayne*, while New York argued it was an unidentified 1830s-era schooner, and that identity was not dispositive.
- Northeast filed an in rem admiralty action claiming rights as finder (law of finds) and salvor (law of salvage).
- New York intervened, asserting title under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (ASA), which vests title in certain abandoned shipwrecks embedded in a state’s submerged lands in the state.

## Issues

1. Whether the shipwreck was “abandoned” within the meaning of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act, so that title vested in New York.
2. What standard of proof applies to abandonment under the ASA: preponderance of the evidence or clear and convincing evidence.
3. Whether a private discoverer may obtain a salvage award after the ASA vests title in the state.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for New York.
- The court held that abandonment under the ASA may be established by circumstantial evidence and does not require an express renunciation of ownership.
- Applying a clear-and-convincing-evidence standard, the court found the wreck abandoned as a matter of law based on long-term nonuse, lack of salvage, and absence of any ownership claim.
- Uncertainty about the wreck’s identity did not defeat abandonment; the decisive facts were prolonged non-claim and non-recovery.
- Because title vested in New York under the ASA, Northeast could not obtain ownership under the law of finds and was not entitled to a salvage award absent the State’s consent.

## Legal Principles

- Under the ASA, once a covered shipwreck is shown to be “abandoned” and located on a state’s submerged lands, title vests in the sovereign (through the statutory transfer scheme) rather than a private finder.
- Abandonment of historic shipwrecks may be inferred from circumstantial evidence, including extended passage of time with no recovery efforts and no assertion of ownership by any owner, insurer, or successor.
- Courts may require clear and convincing evidence to prove abandonment because abandonment permanently divests property rights.
- When the ASA applies, it displaces conflicting applications of the maritime law of finds and limits salvage remedies; a salvage award against the state is not available without the state’s authorization or consent.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that the Lake Erie schooner was abandoned under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act by clear and convincing evidence, vesting title in New York and foreclosing the private explorer’s claims for ownership and a salvage award absent state consent.


Northeast Research, LLC v. One Shipwrecked Vessel, 729 F.3d 197 (2d Cir. 2013)