Legal Definitions - salvor

A salvor is an individual or entity that voluntarily comes to the aid of a vessel, its cargo, or other property at sea, saving it from danger or loss. Their actions are undertaken without a prior contract or duty to do so, and they perform a useful service with the intention and capacity to preserve the distressed property. For their successful efforts, salvors are typically entitled to a financial reward, known as a salvage award.

Here are some examples illustrating the role of a salvor:

• Imagine a small pleasure craft, a sailboat named The Wanderer, that experiences engine failure and a torn sail during an unexpected squall. It begins drifting dangerously close to a rocky coastline. Another passing sailboat, The Horizon, notices The Wanderer's distress signals. The captain of The Horizon, without any prior agreement or obligation, maneuvers his boat to connect a tow line and safely pulls The Wanderer away from the rocks and into a nearby sheltered cove. In this scenario, the captain and crew of The Horizon acted as salvors because they voluntarily provided a critical service to save The Wanderer from imminent peril.

• Consider a large commercial container ship, the Ocean Giant, which suffers a catastrophic fire in its engine room while far out at sea, leaving it adrift and vulnerable to severe weather. A specialized maritime salvage company, operating a powerful tugboat and equipped with firefighting capabilities, receives the distress call. Even though they had no existing contract with the Ocean Giant's owners, they immediately divert their vessel to assist. Their crew successfully extinguishes the fire, stabilizes the ship, and tows it to the nearest safe port. The salvage company and its crew acted as salvors by voluntarily intervening to save the valuable vessel and its cargo from total loss.

• During a severe hurricane, several large fishing trawlers break free from their moorings in a harbor and are being battered against a concrete pier, threatening to sink and cause significant environmental damage from spilled fuel. A group of local fishermen, witnessing the unfolding disaster, quickly mobilizes their own smaller, more agile boats. They work together to secure new lines to the runaway trawlers, carefully pulling them away from the pier and re-securing them in a safer part of the harbor. These local fishermen acted as salvors because they voluntarily undertook a dangerous and useful service to prevent the loss of the trawlers and mitigate further damage, without any pre-existing duty or contract.