It’s a well-known cliché in the boating world: a boater’s second happiest day is when he acquires a boat; his happiest day is when he gets rid of it. There’s more than one way to get rid of an unwanted boat, and it seems one common way is just to abandon it. Sometimes abandonment is the result of a separate misfortune, such as a stranding or sinking. But we often see boats left to decay at anchorages and alongside docks. Such derelict vessels are an eyesore at best and can also obstruct and endanger navigation.
Various federal, state and local agencies have jurisdiction over waterways and may be in a position to remove obstructions. But those agencies won’t always step in. So, what are the options for private citizens affected by a derelict vessel?
Not many, at least traditionally. The law has always recognized that property can be “abandoned,” but the threshold for abandonment is actually pretty high. Imagine a car parked in a shopping center parking lot. The owner is nowhere in sight. But we don’t think of parking lots as being full of abandoned cars, free for the taking. But imagine a car left unattended for five years. That car has probably been abandoned. Abandonment means more than leaving property unattended for a while; there has to be evidence that the owner actually means to abandon ownership of the property. A good example might be the owner who leaves a piece of furniture on the curb. That’s a pretty reliable indication that the owner intends to abandon the item to any takers.
So when is a boat “abandoned?” Not when it’s sitting at anchor, even if no one is aboard. People anchor boats and leave them all the time. What if the boat has been sitting at anchor a long time, with no indication that the owner has been on board in recent memory? Again, it’s not unusual for a boat to be left at anchor for a long time. And there may be some reason the owner has been unable to come aboard the boat or move it from anchorage—illness perhaps, or pressing obligations in another part of the world. What about a boat left at a marina or private dock? Again, the owner may still want the boat despite the rather irresponsible act of leaving it at someone else’s facility. Even boats in distress may not be abandoned in the legal sense of the word. A boat owner may intend to haul his boat out of the marsh, and may simply lack the time and resources to do so. Even a sunken vessel may not qualify as “abandoned” for legal purposes.
Given these uncertainties, it can be risky to rely on the traditional legal doctrine of abandonment. There is often some possibility that the owner will come out of hiding and complain that his boat has been taken—“converted,” in civil law parlance, or even stolen. And it can be hard to sell an abandoned boat, particularly a large one with any potential value. How can the prospective buyer establish title to the vessel and register it with the appropriate authorities?
Another legal concept applicable to wrecked and derelict vessels is “salvage.” Whereas abandonment can apply to any property wherever located, salvage is limited to maritime situations. In general, someone who saves property from a marine peril becomes a “salvor” and is entitled to a salvage award. The property is often a vessel, but it could be something else like cargo or other valuables aboard the vessel. The property must be in peril—again, a vessel sitting at anchor is usually not in peril. The salvage must be successful; there is no award for a failed salvage effort. And the salvor does not get title to the property saved except in rare circumstances. The usual award is a percentage of the value of the vessel as saved. That award based on a list of factors—the value of the property saved is probably the most important, but other factors, such as the difficulty and cost of the salvage operation, are also taken into account.[1] The salvage award cannot exceed the value of the property saved. Who determines the award? If the parties cannot agree, the right to salvage and the amount of the award are decided in federal admiralty court.
So one way to deal with a derelict vessel is to salvage it. This approach only works if the vessel is “in peril.” For example, suppose an anchored vessel comes free of its mooring and drifts into a marsh at high tide. Is that vessel in peril? Certainly, as it is likely to ground at low tide. Anyone who tows the vessel out of the marsh and secures is somewhere safe probably qualifies as a salvor.
What then? The salvor can file suit in admiralty court to enforce its salvage award and have the U.S. Marshal arrest the vessel. If the owner does not appear to contest the arrest, the vessel can be sold fairly quickly. Who will buy it? No one, if the boat has no significant vessel (or negative value, as is the case for boats destined for the landfill). But the salvor will typically be allowed a “credit bid” for the amount of its claim, and can get title to the vessel at the sale. With a Marshal’s bill of sale, the salvor can sell the vessel, give it away or junk it without fear of a subsequent claim from the owner.
The problem with the salvage approach is cost. A maritime attorney will likely be needed to prepare the arrest paperwork. The Marshals Service usually requires a substantial deposit to secure its costs. And a qualified custodian must be appointed to take possession on behalf of the Marshal. A marina can often act as its own custodian, but often the custodian must be appointed separately and paid a fee. All these costs are theoretically recoverable from the proceeds of sale, but that’s not much help if the vessel has no real value. In the end, salvage is an effective but expensive way to get rid of an abandoned, wrecked or derelict vessel.
Other parties may also be in a similar position to file claims in admiralty court. A marina with outstanding dockage charges, for instance, can also seek to have a vessel sold by the court to pay those charges. If no one else bids at the sale, the marina can bid its outstanding charges, get title, and be rid of the boat one way or another. Again, the main disadvantage to admiralty proceedings is cost. Even if a dockage or slip rental agreement provides for recovery of attorney’s fees, good luck collecting from the absentee owner.
Given these impracticalities, it’s no surprise that some states have come up with new ways of dealing with derelict vessels. South Carolina recently passed an act for just that purpose.[2] The new act declares “[a]bandoned vessels, derelict vessels, and sunken vessels” to be public nuisances. An “abandoned vessel” is one that is “wrecked or junked,” “does not have a visible identifier,” and remains on South Carolina waters for ten days after being posted with an abandoned vessel notice.[3] A “derelict vessel” is a wrecked or junked vessel with a visible identifier (such as a hull identification number, vessel registration number or name and home port) that remains on State waters for at least 21 days after posting of a derelict vessel notice.[4] “Wrecked” means listing due to water intake or hull damage, or “aground and cannot be extracted without mechanical assistance.”[5] “Junked” means “substantially stripped of vessel components,” or having normally enclosed spaces “open to the elements.”[6]
The new act makes it a misdemeanor for a person to cause or allow a vessel to become abandoned or derelict, an offense for which the perpetrator can be jailed up to sixty days, in addition to fined up to $10,000.[7] The offender is also liable for all costs of removing and disposing of the vessel. South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources and local law enforcement agencies are tasked with posting abandoned and derelict vessel notices and contacting owners where possible. South Carolina authorities are to develop an “application and website” for use by law enforcement and the public to report wrecked, junked and sunken vessels.[8]
The new act definitely adds a new remedy option to private actors like marina operators and dock owners. An abandoned or derelict vessel (as defined by the act) “is subject to removal at any time by any person without liability to a responsible party,” the latter term defined as “a person who has the rights to the possession and use of a vessel.” The person who removes and disposes of a vessel “may commence a civil action against a responsible party” to recover removal costs and attorney’s fees. That civil action is in addition to other rights available to the removing party, such as salvage.
The new act also includes provisions specifically relating to “sunken” vessels, “sunken” not being a time defined in the act. The responsible party must remove a sunken vessel before the date it is officially declared abandoned or derelict. This makes sense—if a vessel actually sinks, there’s not much cause to wait around for an arbitrary deadline to expire. A removing party has the same rights with respect to a sunken vessel as it has with respect to abandoned or derelict vessels that have not sunk.
The new act thus does away with some of the fear over a boat owner later complaining that someone scrapped a derelict boat without permission. That said, the act does not apply to every nuisance vessel. A vessel is not considered abandoned or derelict, for purposes of the act, unless posted with a notice for 10 days in the case of abandoned vessels (ones with no visible identifier) or 21 days in the case of derelict vessels (one with a visible identifier that will presumably be used by law enforcement in an effort to contact the owner).
And the vessel must be “junked” or “wrecked,” both terms being defined in the new act. What if the authorities get it wrong in posting a vessel as abandoned or derelict? Does the removing party lose its protection against liability to the responsible party and its statutory right to recover removal and disposal costs along with attorney’s fees? One would like to think private actors could rely on postings by law enforcement, but the act does not make that clear.
Also, although the act protects a private person from liability for “removal” of an abandoned or derelict vessel, the right to a civil action to recover costs and attorney’s fees seems to be available to the person who “removes and disposes” of a vessel. In that sense, the new act is a complement to the traditional salvage remedy. With salvage, a vessel is rescued from a marine peril, with enough value preserved to make the salvage effort worthwhile. Under the act, private persons can recover removal and disposal costs for an entirely worthless vessel, plus attorney’s fees—assuming, of course, that the “responsible party” has any assets to pay those costs.
That’s the reality—it’s expensive to deal with wrecked and derelict vessels. Traditionally, an imperiled vessel was left to its fate if not worth the effort to salvage. And in the old days, a wrecked wooden vessel would eventually just rot away. Today’s fiberglass vessels last a lot longer, and any modern vessel is a pollution hazard if left to break up on a shoal or in a salt marsh. Junked and wrecked vessels are indeed a public nuisance, and the sort of problem that often needs public rather than private intervention. Notably, fines collected under the act must be used by South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources “for the removal and disposal of abandoned vessels, derelict vessels, and sunken vessels.”[9] It remains to see whether those fines will amount to enough to enable authorities in South Carolina to remove more junked vessels.
In the meantime, the remedies available to marinas, dock owners, and others affected by derelict vessels have been improved somewhat. At least now a private party can pay to remove and dispose of a junked vessel with some protection against liability to the boat owner. But the cost of getting rid of a worthless vessel will continue to fall on whoever does the removal, absent some kind of public funding for private actors who undertake such removals.
[1] See The Blackwall, 77 U.S. 1, 13–14 (1869), a lead American salvage case.
[2] See 2025 SC Acts No. 22 (May 8, 2025), codified at S.C. Code §§ 50-21-200 to 290. Sen. Chip Campsen of the Isle of Palms in South Carolina was the primary sponsor of the bill.
[3] S.C. Code § 50-21-210(1).
[4] S.C. Code § 50-21-210(2).
[5] S.C. Code § 50-21-210(7).
[6] S.C. Code § 50-21-210(3).
[7] S.C. Code § 50-21-220. The Charleston Post and Courier recently reported on an arrest under the new law. See https://www.postandcourier.com/news/scdnr-arrest-navy-ship-owner-kodaimati-johns-island/article_3b984ae2-e16e-4bae-ac4f-baf01c0456cb.html.
[8] S.C. Code § 50-21-290.
[9] S.C. Code § 50-21-220(C).