Chameau Exploration Ltd. v. Nova Scotia (Attorney General), 2007 NSSC 386

In Salvage and Wrecks on (Updated )

This interesting case concerned attempts to explore what was believed to be the 1812 wreck of a Royal Navy sloop. The case came before the court as an application for judicial review of a decision of the Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Museum. The Director had declined to issue a research permit to explore the wreck under the Nova …

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Brooks Aviation Inc. v. Boeing SB-17G, 2004 FC 710

In Salvage and Wrecks on (Updated )

This was an application by the Plaintiff for summary judgment in respect of a claim for salvage. The res was a B-17 aircraft that had crash landed on a lake in Labrador during the winter of 1947. The following year the aircraft sank during the spring thaw. The wreck was discovered by the Plaintiff in July 1998. The Plaintiff sought …

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Cox v. The "Trade Up", 1998 CanLII 7481

In Salvage and Wrecks on (Updated )

This was a reference to determine a salvage award. The Plaintiff successfully salvaged the Defendant vessel which had been stranded on rocks. The salvor had retained two other vessels to assist him in the salvage and paid the owners of those vessels what the court considered "overgenerous" amounts. The Court noted that salvage awards "are intended to award a person …

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General Accident Indemnity Company v. The "Panache IV", [1998] 2 FC 455

In Salvage and Wrecks on (Updated )

This case has a good discussion of salvage. The case involved a claim for a salvage award by the underwriter of the "Panache IV". The "Panache IV" had an insured value of $275,000.00 and sank in deep waters under suspicious circumstances. The underwriter, suspecting the vessel had been scuttled, undertook salvage efforts. After two failed attempts the underwriter was finally …

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Ontario v. Mar-Dive Corp., 1996 CanLII 8103

In Salvage and Wrecks on (Updated )

This very interesting case concerned a dispute over the ownership of and salvage rights to the S.S. "Atlantic", a double-sided wheeled paddle steamer that sank in 1852 on the Ontario side of Lake Erie. The competing claimants were the Crown in the Right of Ontario, Michael Fletcher, a diver who had found and marked the wreck in 1984, and various …

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