WIX Archives

Re: Newfoundland bomber Story

Posted by Tony Jarvis on Wed Jun 25, 2003 09:06:46 PM

In reply top Newfoundland bomber Story posted by Harold Mulder on Wed Jun 25, 2003 04:12:58 AM

This story would make an interesting thread here on the WIX page. However some backround info should be related before we all start getting on our respective soap-boxes!
Here in Canada if an artifact (such as an aircraft, train, boat, etc...) lies in or touches a body of water, the salvage of same falls under the Federal laws of the Inland Waters Act. This act simply states that before one can even touch the wreckage you must be the owner or obtain permission from the registered owners or the insurance company with claim to the wreck. To attempt salvage without doing so will result in a charge of plundering, a federal offence.
With some of the cases I have seen involving this act, people have assumed that if it had been the property of, say, the USAAF and they have written the airframe off as lost then they do not have to seek permission. This assumption would be wrong as many of the Canadian provinces have now enacted laws enforcing salvage of "relatively recent artifacts" and Newfoundland was one of the first. This was to prevent the loss of historic relics to parties outside of the Province/Country.
I have also seen claims of ownnership obtained from the insurance company that were actually statements that read "....we have no objection to you retrieving this wreckage provided our company is not liable for any costs thereof".
The Federal government in our country to my knowledge has no such law in place and thus cannot offer comment or restrictions outside of the wording in the Inland Waters Act. Thus....no Federal objection. However this does not restrict the Provincial government from slapping on it's own restrictions and therin lies the debate.
This whole story is a double edge sword so-to-speak in that what does one do?....do you allow someone outside of the country come in and take the aircraft that can afford to restore it thus preserving an historic relic or do you allow it to continue to deteriorate 'in the bush' for the sake of possibly of someone doing it in country?
Obtaining and stating you have permission from the USAAF/US Government does not work either as now the Province can forward claim of enviromental clean-up charges directly to those departments and have legal precedence to obtain such prior to said recovery.
In my experience, the best solution has always been communication and cooperation. If you present your case to the proper Federal, Provincial and local government authorities, usually common sense makes it all work out. Also, don't neglect the local museum authorities as well! However, if you barge in and say "It's mine, I found it!" without doing your homework first, well....your B-17 stays in the lake, your B-24 stays on the dock and your P-39 gets impounded and you are in for some big legal battles.
Let me offer you another perspective: If I went to Maine and fished a lost B-18 Bolo/Digby out of a lake, how far do you think I would get with it before being stopped? I'd like to know what the WIX'ers think about this whole situation.

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