Bartholomew

We consider the apportionment of a salvage award that was given to participating crew members but not to the owner of the salving vessel. The right to a salvage award for saving a ship dates back for centuries. Some have traced the right back to the ancient Rhodians, whose maritime accomplishments began to reach their height in the late fourth century B.C., 1 and who are thought by some to be the earliest culture to have devised a system of maritime law. 2 The manuscript known as “The Rhodian Sea-Law,” which in its extant form has been dated to about 600-800 A.D., 3 includes provisions awarding “the *1085 fifth part of what he saves” to one who saves a ship or its cargo, and awarding to the finder of sunken gold or silver one half, one third, or one tenth of its value, depending on the depth from which it was brought up. The Rhodian Sea-Law 117-19 (Walter Ashburner ed. & trans., 1909). 4 Whatever its origin, the doctrine of the salvor’s right to be rewarded for voluntary rescue service found its way into Roman law and thence into the Laws of Oleron, the twelfth-century French precursor of English maritime law. 5 3A Benedict on Admiralty §§ 6, 8 (Martin J. Norris ed., 7th ed.2002).…