Maritime Law - is this true?
 

A neighbor comes by today says he has rented out a lobster boat from down in the creek. Him and two buddies are going to go start towing boats they find stuck in the marshes etc tomorrow and have their eye on one 42'er to start with and put them in a secured waterfront location they have with a gaurd so they are not abandoned technically.

They claim after 3 days adrift they are fair game or salvage by maritime law??? Now, how would that apply to inland-waterways and the fact that NJ is under a State of Emergency?

To me besides being wrong on soooo many counts it would almost seem like insurance fraud where your boat breaks loose, I don't claim for 3 days someone grabs it on the otherside of the river and I file insurance that my boat is stolen, missing???

Their plan of course fix them up and sell them...

Like I said, to me wrong on many fronts but what is the law?

Sounds like opportunism at its finest.

i find it totally wrong .where is there morals ? people in nj got it bad enough why add to their pain . i know if a guy grabbed my boat id be all over him

even if it were true theyd probably be dead soon with that plan haha

He might get shot.

Scum bags better have researched the law...even if it legal they still will have a **** load of lawsuits.
Hope one of the is a lawyer becase they're going to spend some cash to figh them.
Do it for free or a arranged price w/ the owner

Tell your neighbor he's a fukkin peckerhead.
He's gonna "salvage" or steal the wrong guys boat & end up in a bad way!!!
People react differently to stress!!!! I bet a good lawyer could get someone off manslaughter charges for post traumatic stress ..... Tell him to think about that & leave the salvage to the pros.

Look I agree with everyone's comments, it's wrong but he says it's legal, I don't see how BUT neither is a lawyer except for what they find on Google - LOL!

I certainly hope it's not legal. People are under tremendous pressure, and it will not be well received. I'm against it completely.

Im sure once they file for a title of some sort, they will have to notify any lien holders, and those folks are gonna pony up the tow/storage fee to recover it.

now if the city, county or state allows them, or somehow empowers them to clear the carnage, that would be a whole different story.