Abandonment Can Be Proven Circumstantially For Determining State Custody of Shipwrecks

Circumstantial evidence can be used to prove whether a sunken shipwreck is abandoned within the meaning of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act and ultimately to determine if title automatically transfers to the state upon whose lands the wreck is submerged, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held Sept. 5 (Northeast Research LLC v. N.Y., 2013 BL 235745, 2d Cir., No. 11-1644-cv).

Here, the appeals court ruled an early 19th-century wooden schooner was abandoned when there had been no effort to locate or salvage the vessel by its owners or descendants, despite the existence of technology to ...