Daughter of man lost at sea aghast as couple who discovered his abandoned sailboat claim “finders keepers, losers weepers” on her family
Renee Leonard wanted something good to come from her father’s apparent death at sea, so after the U.S. Coast Guard towed his abandoned sailboat ashore, she decided to donate it to a worthy cause. [….] A few days after the donation, however, Leonard got surprising news.
Ronald and Sunshine Rathey, who found the Tranquility anchored 65 nautical miles west of John’s Pass and notified the Coast Guard, were claiming a maritime lien against the vessel. [….] According to a Coast Guard report, the Ratheys, who were aboard their vessel, Sundancer, reported spotting what appeared to be an abandoned sailboat at 2:25 p.m. on Oct. 18.
At 3:35 p.m. the Coast Guard launched a search for Leonard’s father, Ulyses Emanuel “Sam” Didier III. The search included a cutter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. It went on for 28 hours.
Chief Petty Officer Paul R. Angelillo said the area searched was determined by special computer software that showed how far Didier might have drifted since he last wrote in his log, three days before his boat was found. [….] He said the Coast Guard asked the Ratheys to board the sailboat to find out whether anyone was on the boat. The agency also asked the couple to remain on the scene until the Coast Guard cutter Hawk arrived.
“The idea is that you want to talk to them and get a feel for what they found and you want to make sure that there’s nothing untoward. Once Hawk was on the scene, I don’t recall us asking them to remain on scene,” Angelillo said, adding that the Ratheys’ official involvement in the incident would have been about five hours.
The Ratheys, who make their livelihood fishing, contend through their lawyer that they remained with the Tranquility and protected it at a financial loss to themselves. They want to be compensated. [….] Frank D. Butler, the Ratheys’ maritime lawyer, said his clients “saw up at the bow that there was evidence that somebody had been trying to contend with the anchor and may have fallen over.”
Butler said his clients performed a service for the abandoned boat. Under maritime law, he said, “when somebody provides a service for a vessel, like fuel, repairs, it creates a maritime lien against the vessel.”
Links
- Marine salvage (wiki)
- Admiralty law: codes and statutes
- The International Convention On Salvage, IMO 1989
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