Thread: college students claim yacht

Basically what happened was the captain called MAYDAY way to soon. He should have turned on the EPIRBs, sent out a distress call, attached a lanyard to his life raft to the boat and waited on either SeaTow or the Coasties.. Thereby saving all of his passengers and his property at the same time..

MAYDAY is a distress call confirming that you are abandoning all hope, reliquishing control of the vessel and removing yourself from the scene to allow nature to take its course. Wether nature be a sandbar beating its way through the dinette or a group of spring breakers with dollar signs in their eyes and the ability to hold their breath long enough to swim down and hook on a line..

Good for them.... why shouldn't they get the boat or a substantial reward... they just played by the rules...

Good read. The article is worth reading... Seems the guys had a bit of experience.

Any updates on this whole thing? Have yet to hear about it, and I am in Charleston.

hell, i'm interested on an update also. just shows that actually knowing the law does pay off.

Originally Posted by waterboy222

if the law stated that if you lost control of your vehicle and bailed out then someone else jumped in and brought it under control for you, then yes, they get to keep the vehicle..

I'd be driving around pushing cars with a truck and trying to jump in the windows to save them in a heartbeat!!!

Here is my question: Had they not supplied the raft would the captain not stayed with the ship and thus they (the college students) took advantage of the situation and changed decision of the captain to stay with the ship till it sunk?

Also, does the maritime law regarding salvage- does the captain have to stay will the boat till the ENTIRE boat is underwater (mast/antenna/ect) or once the standing area/deck of the boat is underwater?

damn that sucks, amazing job by the college students tho really impressive story

Originally Posted by GOUSFBULLS1

SO they helped someone saved their boat and are now claiming the boat is theirs or they want to be paid for helping........... these kids need to be punched in the face. they HELPED someone great now they are being dicks about it

No, they ensured the safety of the vessel's captain and crew and then salvaged the abandoned vessel. Read the comments on the linked vids, the first/third poster explains it quite well.

Originally Posted by JohnAnthony

the raft was from the yacht, the captain, crew, etc got on willingly



that's up to the captain - which is the whole point of mayday and this story

-if you call it and stay on, boats still yours

-if you call it and get off, you can lose it - and that's what happened here

like waterboy said - the captain called it early - and for no reason in my opinion, you can see in the pictures they're no more than a 1 or 2 off the nearest land, captain could've stuck around until the last bit of boat went under

Cool- thanks for the explanation. Good to know these things esp if I end up purchasing a catamaran.
Nik