Who Owns Shipwrecks?
The question of who owns abandoned shipwrecks, cargoes and artifacts found in a state’s territorial waters of the Great Lakes and oceans has been addressed by Congress on several occasions. It has been resolved in favor of the state in whose waters the submerged objects are located, but it is based on older law. English common law rules that “title and dominion of all lands and objects found therein below the high water mark” belonged to the King of England. This rule became part of American common law subsequent to the Revolution and applies equally to all 50 states [Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1 (1894)]. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 gave what is now Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio title to their respective bottom lands of lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently determined that the Great Lakes were factually and legally “inland seas” and subject to federal admiralty jurisdiction. The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 gave states title
