unless there is a public road equally convenient, pass and repass
with or without horses or carriages over any adjoining lands without
the owner's or occupier's consent, doing as little damage as possible,
and may also deposit there any things recovered from the ship; any
damage so done is a charge on the ship, cargo or articles, and is
recoverable like salvage (q.v.). Penalties are imposed on any owner
or occupier hindering the operations. The receiver has power to
suppress any plundering or disorder, or any hindering of the
preservation of the ship, persons, cargo or apparel. Where any vessel,
wrecked or in distress as above, is plundered, damaged or destroyed,
by any riotous or tumultuous assembly ashore or afloat, compensation
must be made to her owner in England and Scotland by the
same authority which would be liable to pay compensation in cases
of riot (q.v.), and in Ireland in cases of malicious injuries to property.
In the absence of the receiver, his powers may be exercised by the
following officers or persons in successive order, viz. a chief officer
of customs, principal officer of coast-guard, inland revenue officer,
sheriff, justice of the peace, and naval or military officer on full pay.
These persons act as the receiver's agent and put the salvage in his
custody, but they are not entitled to any fees nor are they deprived
of any right to salvage by so doing. An examination is also directed
to be held, in cases of ships in distress on the coasts of the kingdom,
by a wreck receiver, wreck commissioner or his deputy, at the request
of the Board of Trade or a justice of the peace, by evidence on oath
as to the name and description of ship, name of master, shipowner
and owner of cargo, ports to and from which the ship was bound, the
occasion of the ship's distress, the services rendered and the like.
The act provides as follows for dealing with wreck: Any one finding
wreck, if he is the owner of it, must give notice of his having done so
to the receiver of the district, and if he is not the owner he must deliver
it to that officer as soon as possible, except for reasonable cause,
e.g. if, as a salvor, he retains it with the knowledge of the receiver.
No articles belonging to a wrecked ship found at the time of the
casualty must be taken or kept by any person, whether their owner
or not, but must be handed over to the receiver. The receiver
taking possession of any wreck must give notice of it, with a description,
at the nearest custom-house; and if the wreck is in his opinion
worth more than £20, also to Lloyd's. The owner of any wreck in the
hands of a receiver must establish his claim to it within a year, and
on so doing, and paying all expenses, is entitled to have it restored
to him. Where a foreign ship has been wrecked on or near the coast,
and any articles forming part of her cargo are found on or near the
coast, or are brought into any port, the consular officer of the foreign
country to which the ship or cargo belongs is deemed to be the agent
for the owner so far as the custody and disposal of the articles is
concerned. The receiver may in certain cases, e.g. where the value
is small, sell the wreck and hold the proceeds till claimed. The right
to unclaimed wreck belongs to the crown, except in places where the
crown has granted that right to others. Persons so entitled, such as
admirals—vice-admirals are mentioned in the act (sed quaere)—lords
of manors and the like, are entitled, after giving the receiver
notice and particulars of their title, to receive notice from the receiver
of any wreck there found. Where wreck is not claimed by an owner
within a year after it was found, and has been in the hands of a
receiver, it can be claimed by the person entitled to wreck in the place
where it was found, and he is entitled to have it after paying expenses
and salvage connected with it; if no such person claims it, it is sold
by the receiver, and the net proceeds are applied for the benefit of the
crown, either for the duchy of Lancaster or the duchy of Cornwall;
or if these do not claim it, it goes to the crown. Where the title to
unclaimed wreck is disputed, the dispute may be settled summarily
as in cases of salvage; either party, if dissatisfied, may within three
months after a year since the wreck came into the hands of the
receiver proceed in any competent court to establish his title.
Delivery of unclaimed wreck by the receiver discharges him from
liability, but does not prejudice the title thereto. The Board of
Trade has power to purchase rights of wreck. No person exercising
admiralty jurisdiction as grantee of wreck may interfere with wreck
otherwise than in accordance with the act. Duties are payable on
wrecked goods coming into the United Kingdom or Isle of Man as if
they had been imported thither; and goods wrecked on their homeward
voyage may be forwarded to their original destination, or, if
wrecked on their outward voyage, to their port of shipment, on due
security being taken for the protection of the revenue. Wreck commissioners
may be appointed by the lord chancellor to hold investigations
into shipping casualties, to act as judges of courts of survey,
and to take examinations in respect of ships in distress.
The owner of a wrecked ship, sunk by his negligence in a navigable highway, so as to be an obstruction to navigation, if he retains the ownership of her, is liable in damages to the owner of any other ship which without negligence runs into her. If, however, the owner has taken steps to indicate her position, or the harbour authority at his request has undertaken to do so, no action lies against him for negligence either in rem or in personam. He may, however (whether the sinking was due to his negligence or not), abandon the ship, and can thus free himself from any further liability in respect of her. If he abandons her to any other person—e.g. an underwriter—who pays for her as for a total loss, that person does not become liable for her unless he takes possession or control in any way. Harbour authorities generally have by local statute, as they have by the general Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 (if incorporated in their own act), the power of removing the wreck in such a case, and recouping themselves for their expenses from its proceeds. The general act also gives a personal right of action against the owner for any balance of expense over the value of the wreck; but if the owner has abandoned it, and no one else has taken it, neither he nor any one else is liable. A particular or local act (as e.g. one of the State of Victoria) may, however, fasten this liability on the person who is owner at the time when the ship is wrecked, and then he cannot free himself of it. A harbour authority is not obliged to remove a wreck because it has power to do so, unless it takes dues from vessels using the harbour where the wreck lies, or in some way warrants that the harbour is safe for navigation, in which case it is under an obligation to do so. Further statutory provision is now made in this respect by the Merchant Shipping Act, which empowers harbour authorities to raise, remove or destroy (and meantime buoy or light), or to sell and reimburse themselves out of the proceeds of any vessel or part of a vessel, her tackle, cargo, equipment and stores, sunk, stranded or abandoned in any water under their control, or any approach thereto, which is an obstruction or danger to navigation or lifeboat service. They must first give due notice of such intention, and must allow the owner to have the wreck on his paying the fair market value. The act gives similar powers to lighthouse authorities, with a provision that any dispute between a harbour and lighthouse authority in this respect is to be determined finally by the Board of Trade. Provision is also made by statute for the burial of bodies cast on shore from the sea by wreck or otherwise within the limits of parishes, or, in extra-parochial places, by the parish officers or constables at the cost of the county; and lords of manors entitled to wreck may defray part of the cost of burial of bodies cast up within the manor, as evidence of their right of wreck.
The method of dealing with wreck outside territorial waters (which does not come within the scope of the act) is governed by the previous general law relating to droits of admiralty. The Board of Trade, as receiver-general, in its instructions to receivers, directs that wreck picked up at sea out of the limits of the United Kingdom, or brought to it by British ships, is to be taken possession of by the receiver and held by him on behalf of the owners, or, if the owners do not claim it, on behalf of the crown. Derelict ships picked up at sea outside territorial limits and brought into British ports must be delivered to the receiver and kept by him until the owner can be found (but not longer than a year and a day). Wreck picked up out of territorial limits by a foreign ship need not be interfered with by the receiver, unless upon application by a party interested. For the receiver's rights with respect to property in distress and its liability to salvage, see Salvage.
By an act of 1896 it is the duty of the master of a British ship to report to Lloyd's agent, or to the secretary of Lloyd's, any floating derelict ship which he may fall in with at sea. Under the Merchant Shipping Act, it is a felony to take wreck found in territorial limits to a foreign port, and it is punishable by fine to interfere with a wreck. The receiver has power, by means of a search warrant from a justice, to search for wreck which he has reason to believe is concealed. By the general criminal law in Scotland plundering wreck is punishable at common law; and in England and Ireland it is a felony to plunder or steal any wreck or part thereof, to destroy any wreck or part thereof, to prevent or impede any person on board a wreck from saving himself, and to exhibit any false signal with the intent of endangering any ship, or to do anything tending to the immediate loss or destruction of a ship for which no other punishment is provided.
Authorities.—Du Cange, Glossarium, tit. “Wreckum”; Chief-Justice Hale, De jure maris; Hargrave, Tracts (London, 1787); Palmer, Law of Wreck, Law Tracts (London, 1843); Marsden, Select Pleas of Admiralty, Selden Society (London, 1892 and 1897); Records of the Admiralty and of the High Court of Admiralty, Public Record Office (London); Victoria County History, Cornwall, and other seaboard counties; Maritime History, by M. Oppenheim (1906, &c.); Board of Trade Instructions as to Wreck and Salvage (London). (R. G. M.; G. G. P.*)
WREDE, KARL PHILIPP. Prince von (1767-1838), Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg on the 29th of April 1767, and educated, for the career of a civil official under the Palatinate government, but on the outbreak of the campaign of 1799 he raised a volunteer corps in the Palatinate and was made its colonel. This corps excited the mirth of the well-drilled Austrians with whom it served, but its colonel soon brought it into a good condition, and it distingtiished itself during Kray's retreat on Ulm. At Hohenlinden Wrede commanded one of the Palatinate infantry brigades with credit, and after the peace of Lunéville he was made lieutenant-general in the Bavarian army, which was entering upon a period of reforms. Wrede soon made himself very popular, and distinguished himself in opposing the Austrian invasion of 1805. The Bavarians were for several years the active allies of Napoleon, and Wrede was
