Wreck

i By the ancient common law, was where any ship was lost at sea, and the cargo or goods were thrown upon the land. 2 Such goods as, after a shipwreck, are cast upon land by the sea, and left there, within some county.3 A ship beconles a wreck when, in consequence of injury received, she is rendered absolutely unnavigable, or unable to pursue her voyage, without repairs exceeding the half of her value.* That " admiralty has no jurisdiction of the wrecli of the sea " does not refer to property deemed wreek or stupwrecked, in the sense of the maritime or commercial law, but to " wreck of the sea " in the purely technical common-law sense, ^ The act of December 23, 1852 (K. S. § 4136), authorizes the issue of a certificate of register or enrollment for any vessel built in a foreign country, but wrecked in the United States, and purchased or repaired by a citizen thereof. " Wrecked ". here applies to a vessel disabled and rendered unfit for navigation, whether this condition has been caused by the winds or the waves, by stranding. Are, e:splosion of boilers, or other casualty." At common law, to constitute a legal wreck, the goods must come to land. If they continue at sea they are jetsam, flotsam, or ligan.' qq. v. Wreck, by the common law of England, belonged to the king or his grantee; but within a year and a daj- the true owner could claim it or the proceeds.^ Here, sea-shore rights were vested in the Colonies; and wreck belongs to the owner of the shore where it is cast, as against a stranger claimant.®. The States may by legislation regulate property ii) wrecks.'** Stealing or destroying money or goods from or belonging to any vessel, boat, or raft, in distress, lost, or stranded, or willfully obstructing the escape of any person endeavoring to save his life from such vessel, etc., or holding out any false light or extinguishing any true light, with intent to bring any vessel, etc., on the sea into danger, distress, or shipwreck, are felonies, punishable by fine up to five thousand dollars and with as much as ten years imprisonment." See Admiralty; Bilged; Loss, 2; Mabitime; Salvage; Stkandino. ' Wrack, what is cast ashore, drift: A. S. wreccan, to drive, force.

2 [1 Bl. Com. 890; Sid. 106. 8 Baker v. Hoag, 7 N. Y. 658 (1853), Jewett, J. • Wood V. Lincoln, &c. Ins. Co., 6 Mass. 483 (1810), Parsons, C. J.; 3 Kent, 333-»4. s United States v. Coombs, 12 Pet. *r7 (1838), Story, J. « Wrecked Vessel, 15 Op. Att.-Gen. 402 (1877), Devens, A.-G. See also The Mohawk, 3 Wall. 570 (1865). » 1 Bl. Com. 292. e 1 Bl. Com. 290-92; 12 Pet. 72. 8 Baker v. Bates, 13 Pick. 257 (1832); 113 Mass. 337. 10 The Schooner Tilton, 5 Mas. 479 (1830).