Salvage- Course Notes by Captain Barry SadlerAndrea Barron Chapter 1 What is Salvage ?Andrea Barron 4 Salvage Salvage Convention Ivage is quite a technical subject involving some important contract law. Salvage itself is controlled internationally by the 1989 Salvage Convention which determines the conditions, definition and rewards associated with an act of salvage, The convention itself ‘as created to ensure that unfair and unreasonable salvage claims based upon poor contracts were not able to disadvantage either ship-owners or salvage companies and their masters. I's worth at this stage pointing out that questions posed by MCA surveyors are based upon the requirement for the candidate's vessel to be salvaged rather than the candidate doing the salvaging. This should always be bome in mind when answering questions on salvage. Is your vessel suitable for Salvage’ 1 in a salvage contract that is not designed for such activity may render the vessel uninsured, Furthermore, many activities required by salvage are not covered by regular risk assessment, even with or without a SMS being in plac. The financial rewards associated with salvage are greatly diminished when unsuitable vessels commanded by masters, with little or no salvage experience, are used in the operation. This may result in the salvage operation returning little or no profit above operating costs. Reasonable salvage rewards are generally only given to owners and masters