We sometimes hear of stories of people going out to sea on one
boat and returning to port with another boat or part of another in
tow. Several years ago, I personally witnessed a small fishing boat
towing in a thirty foot plus wooden sailing boat in Mgarr Harbour,
which the owner of the fishing boat claimed to have found drifting
a couple of miles off Gozo with no one on board.
How does the law regulate such a situation? Can the person who
finds a vessel adrift make it his own? What about vessels that have
washed up ashore or have sunk? Is it truly a case of ‘finders
keepers'? What if the owners turn up?
Unmanned vessels found adrift are generally considered to be
items of ‘wreck' as are vessels found washed ashore,
sunken, or otherwise stranded. Any object belonging to or cargo
carried on board such a vessel and which is stranded, sunken or
adrift at sea are also considered to be part of a wreck. Therefore,
the law does not limit a ‘wreck' to the wrecked
