Legal Definitions - ligan

Ligan refers to goods, cargo, or wreckage that has been intentionally cast overboard from a vessel, typically during an emergency such as a storm, to lighten the ship and ensure its safety. Crucially, these items are marked with a buoy or attached to a float so that their location can be identified, and they can be recovered later. Under maritime law, items classified as ligan still belong to their original owner, who retains the right to reclaim them if found.

This term is often distinguished from related maritime concepts:

• Jetsam: Goods thrown overboard without a buoy and lost.
• Flotsam: Goods floating after a shipwreck without being intentionally thrown overboard.
• Derelict: Abandoned property found at sea without any owner claiming it.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of ligan:

• Example 1: Emergency Jettison During a Storm

  A large container ship encounters an unexpected and severe hurricane in the open ocean. To prevent the vessel from capsizing and to protect the crew, the captain makes the difficult decision to jettison several heavy, non-essential cargo containers. Before pushing them overboard, the crew attaches specialized GPS-enabled buoys to each container. These containers, marked for later retrieval once the storm passes, would be legally classified as ligan. If another vessel were to find them, the original shipping company would still hold ownership.

• Example 2: Planned Removal for Salvage Operations

  During a complex salvage operation to refloat a partially sunken oil rig, engineers determine that certain heavy, damaged components need to be removed from the rig's structure to reduce its weight. They carefully detach these components, attach large, brightly colored floats to each, and allow them to sink to the seabed in a precisely mapped location. The plan is to retrieve these components with specialized underwater equipment once the main rig is stable. These intentionally marked and placed components, awaiting recovery, constitute ligan.

• Example 3: Recoverable Fishing Gear

  A commercial fishing trawler's net becomes entangled with a large, unexpected obstruction on the seabed, threatening to capsize the vessel. To free the boat and prevent further damage, the crew cuts a section of the net containing a significant portion of their catch. However, they attach a distinctive, high-visibility buoy to this severed section, hoping to return for it with different equipment once the immediate danger is resolved. This marked section of the net and its contents, intended for later recovery, would be considered ligan.