Salvage: Saving What Can Still Be Saved
Salvage is the rescue of property from destruction. At sea it is also a legal right to a reward for saving a ship.
Salvage is the rescue of goods or a vessel from loss, and the property so rescued. Maritime law makes it a right, not a favour: someone who voluntarily saves a ship or cargo in danger may claim a salvage award, which is why salvage tugs race towards disasters other vessels avoid.
- Rescue of property. *Salvage operations began at dawn.*
- Goods rescued. *Architectural salvage.*
- To rescue or retrieve. *Salvage what you can.*
- To rescue something abstract. *Salvage his reputation.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | salvage | A salvage yard. |
| Verb | salvage | Salvage the timber. |
| Past | salvaged | Salvaged from the fire. |
| Person | salvor | The salvors' claim. |
| Related | scrap | Sold for scrap. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The cargo was salvaged from the wreck.Maritime.
- The doors came from an architectural salvage yard.Reclaimed building materials.
- He salvaged a draw in the last minute.Figurative: rescued something from a bad situation.
Salvage at sea
- Salvor — the person or company performing salvage
- No cure, no pay — the traditional principle: no reward if the effort fails
- Lloyd's Open Form — the standard salvage contract
- Wreck — a vessel abandoned or destroyed
- Flotsam and jetsam — goods floating from a wreck, and goods thrown overboard
From Medieval Latin *salvagium*, from *salvare*, to save — the same root as *save*, *salvation* and *safe*.
What is *no cure, no pay*?
The traditional salvage principle that a salvor is paid only if the property is actually saved. Modern contracts modify it where pollution is involved.
Flotsam or jetsam?
Flotsam floats away from a wrecked ship; jetsam was deliberately thrown overboard. The legal consequences once differed.