The Salvor after years of searching & research.
Im always on the hunt for treasure wrecks and found a couple of nice sites in my time and I'm often asked-"So what happens when someone in the UK finds treasure? This is a big question with too many variables to be able to it answer easily. However, one thing is for sure- it depends on where you find your wreck and whom owns it. In the past a salvor would gain possession of his wreck and because the original owner no longer exists-or the owner exists but does not want to pay the salvor for what he brings up -then the salvor used to get the material in lieu of salvage. Life in the world of salvage was easier; it was set up and geared towards helping the salvor to get what he was due. Now the powers that be just want to do their damnedest to circumnavigate our laws, usually on technicality, and try their best not to give anything to the salvor. Scilly is where I search for my wrecks and here the land is nearly all Duchy owned. And the law of today states that if you lift anything from a wreck that has a value of over £5000, the Crown gets a cut- and the Crown here is the Duchy of Cornwall.
After I found the wreck of the Phoenix and salvaged the small treasure lost out therewithall, I was told by the Receiver of Wreck (RoW for short) that, as the treasure was worth more than £5000, the Duchy will get a cut of the prize- the amount of that cut to be decided by the Secretary of state after the treasure has been auctioned off by the RoW. After the Duchy take their cut only one of us then has to pay tax upon their 'income' and the Duchy being the Crown- wont have to pay any tax. So I do all the research, which takes time and money. I do the physical search out at sea -which again takes time and a lots of money; including running and maintaining a suitable sea going vessel and all its related kit at sea. I spend days on end at sea, rolling around towing a magnetometer and a sonar identifying possible targets on the sea bed to investigate further. Im the one going home empty handed each night while feeling queezy from all the rolling around, going back and forth at sea, all the hours god sends. Then, also, all alone, I go out when its calmer and safer, to dive all the anomalies I have identified during the survey. All that dive kit is also expensive to buy and maintain and even more so when you live on a tiny island as everything has to be sent to the mainland for servicing and repair. Not to mention all the years of dive training to get me to this point. I even have to spend hours on end filling my own dive cylinders, with my own compressor, in order to perform the many dives it takes to actually find a wreck. In this case one of those anomalies identified in my survey actually, for once in my life, turns out to be the wreck I'm actually hunting for. I then place myself in mortal danger for over two years mapping the wreck site and identifying everything on the sea bed that is all but hidden from view under thick weed. The tides flow fast over the wreck site. I can enter the water when it is slack tide but by the time the diver is over I come up in the tide and dare not let go of my rope to the boat for fear of being lost at sea. Sometimes the visibility is lousy, and sometimes the swells come over making the diver feel like he is in a washing machine. Sometimes I have to make a decision to abandon a dive for any these many reasons above. Amidst all this I eventually identify an area on the site worthy of further investigation and amazingly find a small but not insignificant treasure I never knew would be there. All I can think when that happens is that for once Im actually going to get paid!! I have been diving for 43 years and found 18 new wrecks in that time. So I can tell the reader that more often than not, the work is seldom profitable and thus far, when added all together- I am in big financial deficit.
I salvage that small treasure and nothing else on the sea bed has been disturbed. No artifacts are moved aside as they always did in the old days. I then call in the Government archaeologists to come and asses the wreck site as a whole. They get to see it pretty much as I found it. They get the benefit of my research and of my site plan of the wreck. I ask for nothing in return. Now is when the authorities suddenly take a great interest in what I am doing. Now is when they usually try and shaft me by attempting to circumnavigate the law as it stands. Usually they will do their level best not to, in their own words, " hand any individual legal title to any of the finds from the wreck" -This is a 'policy' and not a law and in fact goes directly against the law as it stands today. So now I have to fight their policy for what is actually my legal entitlement; while they try to find a way to bully me into submission and this they have had the nerve to call- "antagonising agencies". This is what usually happens when the items raised are worth less than £5000 but when the salvaged material is worth over £5000 then suddenly the rules change significantly and even go right out of the window entirely. Now the Crown get involved and are, for some strange outdated reason, due a cut of the proceeds lifted by me from the wreck- so out of the window goes the authorities previous 'policy' while incomes the upper classes greed that suddenly supersedes it- so that another 'individual' can get a slice of the pie; which in this case, I have been told, will be the Duchy of Cornwall. The laws the RoW invoked to do this are ancient; made at a time when there was no such thing as income tax. Now that income tax has become all to relevant in the modern age, you would think these outdated laws should have ended with its creation.
The Crown is due a cut even though they have contributed absolutely nothing towards the project. Had the sunken vessel once been a 'Kings ship' I could possibly understand the Crowns claim to it- but when, like in this instance, the ship was built and entirely owned by its only commander, Captain William Wildy, whom was sailing her when she sank underneath him, then no, I do not understand it. The other thing that strikes me as unfair in this 5k rule in salvage, is that the Secretary of State decides on who gets what. Now you would think this would already be settled, percentage wise, but its not. No, as I understand it, the amount is 'decided' after the auction has taken place. Well what a damnedable Scam that could turn out to be! Now don't get me wrong here, I have always been a royalist. I loved our Queen, bless her heart and may she rest in peace, but I have to say I'm one of the many out here who is not as yet so enamoured with the latest incumbent to the Thrown. I am currently of the mind that he should have been by-passed if favour of his first born. Respect has to be earned in my world -so the jury is currently still out is my thinking on that subject. He is a bit too woke for my liking. Getting down to brass tacks it is like this- when someone takes bread from my table, for no good reason other than invoking some long outdated historic law, and that someone having had zero input into my project, - that is when Im starting to think about what is fair and just in this saga. This is not 1422- it is 2022. Our Royal family are multi millionaires and the defence of the Realm has already been paid for by us all through our income tax system; so why should the Crown take a second slice of the pie when I will already be taxed upon anything I stand to make?
Lastly. I am writing this in the perfect knowledge how our powers that be- work. Someone up there will read this and probably get upset with me. Last time I wrote stuff like this they got together and set the law upon me using trumped up charges that could not possibly stand up to the simplest of scrutiny. Last time the bullying did work to an extent, as I stopped writing this blog and I let it all pass without seeking compensation- even though I could easily have won it and seen some heads roll in the process. I wont be so benevolent in future. Next time they try such tactics I will go to the press with my story and get myself a good lawyer. So the upshot is this- When the auction has taken place I am happy to pay my taxes. But if the Duchy are awarded a significant amount and I am taxed as well on top of that- well then I am naturally going to get upset and they should realise this fact before things go tits up. Just play fair!
There is one last thing to consider here- The RoW thinks it fit to allow a museum the advantage to buy the collection of artifacts without going to auction to bid for it. The RoW think it is fairer to get 3 independent valuations and to take the middle amount of the three and offer the collection to a museum at that middle price. This is neither legal, nor fair, on either myself or the Duchy of Cornwall. Let me explain- A while back I took this material to Spinks, who are the biggest coin auctioneers in the world, and I was told by them that 'valuations are completely subjective'. That any valuation of this kind of material could never be accurately predicted. I was told that such items are most likely to go for far more money than any valuation undertaken. So if the items are likely to be worth far more than any valuation-then it stands to reason that someone will be unfairly treated if a museum has the benefit of buying it all without having to go to the auction- with the price paid by them based solely upon a subjective valuation only. That someone loosing out will be me -and or the Duchy of Cornwall. Only the auction can set a true value of anything. Similarly, if the valuations have been 'over estimated' then the auction will set the price here also. Better to let the Museum bid along with everyone else on the day- that is 'the' only fair way to proceed. Otherwise the salvor (in this case- me) stands to take financial hits on 3 different fronts for the same salvaged material :- 1.- An under valuation sale to a Museum- 2. -The Crowns- 'Duchy take' & 3. -Income Tax liability. Is this a fair way to carry on? Should a Salvor be hit in 3 different ways like this having done all the work himself alone? The only fair way to proceed is to let the auction dictate the value and inform any museum of the auction taking place to allow them the opportunity to bid. Also, the Secretary of State should forgo the 'Duchy take' entirely as I will be paying income tax on anything I stand to make. Or forego my tax in favour of the 'Duchy take'-they should not be allowed to have it both ways.
Rant over.
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