Stolen from Bray Harbour
A friend of mine works in the navy academy and deals with salvage at sea stuff all the time. I ran the details by him. He says yer man's case for salvage sounds pretty shaky at best and that even if he has a case for salvage, because you're clearly identifiable as the owner and you have laid claim to the "vessel" that legally he is obliged to sell it back to you and no one else. The sale price (the salvage value) is determined based on a percentage of the value of the boat in its current condition, ie. a proportion of whatever it's worth on the open market after whatever damage that caused it to to be "lost" at sea.
I'm not the expert here but my friend is happy to talk to anyone involved who wants advice and the names of all the relevant legislation etc. Just drop me a mail and I'll put you in touch
Think Lorcan meant to post John's message:
Hey guys,I finally got speaking with the lovely chappys from Bray Harbour this morning who "rescued" my boat from the Dargle last Thursday week. I think it is official now that they are not giving it back. Bray Garda station have set up a crack team of elites who are working on the case day and night. So far they have one name, unfortunatley that's my name. I'm sure its only a matter of time before they close in on the criminals though!So in the unlikely event that the Gardaí do not get any strong leads I'm just letting people know so that nobody buys it not knowing that its stolen.The boat is an orange Bliss-Stick Scud. Has my name on the inside (John Flanagan). The back security bar is slightly bent. Fairly unlikely that its going to turn up but just so y'all know.If anyone sees anything maybe they could let me know. My number is 086 3765488.CheersJohn