The ingredients of a salvage service are, first, enterprise in the salvors in going out in tempestuous weather to assist a vessel in distress, risking their own lives to save their fellow-creatures, and to rescue the property of their fellow-subjects; secondly, the degree of danger and distress from which the property is rescued—whether it were in imminent peril, and almost certain to be lost if not at the time rescued and preserved; thirdly, the degree of labor and skill which the salvors incur and display, and the time occupied. Lastly, the value. Where all these circumstances concur, a large and liberal reward ought to be given; but where none, or scarcely any take place, the compensation can hardly be denominated a salvage compensation: it is little more than a remuneration pro opere et labore (The Clifton, 3 Hagg. Adm. 14, 48 [quoted with approval in Cope v. Drydock Co., 119 U. S. 625]).
General Average is also the price of safety under different circumstances. It is the contribution required of the parties interested in a maritime venture to compensate the sacrifice of a part for the safety of the rest. The typical instance is the jettison of cargo in order that the ship may be saved; the loss is equalized by a general average.
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: