2. What May Be Salved.—
The subject of salvage can only be vessels and property that is or has been on board a vessel. In Chapter I § 4, there is some discussion of what constitutes a ship within the meaning of the law. In Cope v. Drydock Co., 119 U. S. 625, salvage was claimed rescuing a floating drydock, which had been in collision with a steamship and was on the point of sinking. The Court held that the service performed was not salvage because the drydock was not a vessel and not a salvable thing. Justice Bradley said that a dock, though floating, was not used for the purpose of navigation and that "no structure that is not a ship or vessel is a subject of salvage," adding:
A ship or vessel, used for navigation and commerce, though lying at a wharf, and temporarily made fast thereto, as well as her furniture and cargo, are maritime subjects, and are capable of receiving salvage service.
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If we search through all the books, from the Rules of Oléron to the present time, we shall find that salvage is only spoken of in relation to ships and vessels and their cargoes, or those things which have been committed to, or lost in, the sea or its branches, or other public navigable waters, and have been found and rescued.
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There has been some conflict of decision with respect to claims for salvage service in rescuing goods lost at sea and found floating on the surface or cast upon the shore. When they have belonged to a ship or vessel as part of its furniture or cargo they clearly come under the head of wreck, flotsam, jetsam, ligan, or derelict, and salvage may be claimed upon them. But when they have no connection with a ship or vessel some authorities are against the claim, and others are in favor of it.
It was held by the Supreme Court of the United States (The Jefferson, 215 U. S. 130) that where a vessel, laid up in drydock in a shipyard for repairs, was saved from destruction by a fire, which was raging in the shipyard, by tug boats in the stream which played streams of water from the stream upon the endangered vessel, it was a case of salvage. The Court after remarking that a maritime lien for repairs existed against a vessel in drydock, said:
There is no distinction between the continued control of admiralty over a vessel when she is in a drydock for the purpose of being repaired, and the subjection of the vessel when in a drydock for repairs to the jurisdiction of a court of admiralty for the purpose of passing upon claims for salvage services, by which it is asserted the vessel, while in the dock, was saved from destruction.