[jbkiv]

The insurance company paid the claim to the owner of the shipb, or whomever bought the insurance contract. This is how Lloyds of London got started.

The insurers are entitled to recovery. It happens in the case of mink fur theft, bank robbery, of ships salvaged and sold for scrap metal. Whomever bought the insurance contract got their money.

Even with a fire where everything is destroyed, there is always potential for recovery (I am not talking about a private house). In a plant or a warehouse storing computers, electronics, the insurance company will reimburse for the loss at a given valuation agreed upon in the contract: replacement value, market value. Then the insurance company will contract with a cleanup company and will sell the equipment (sometimes just smoke damage) to the wholesaler. That wholesaler will clean up the equipment and sell that on Amazon or ebay. More often they forget to mention the circumstances.

Here the insurance company has paid for those gold bullions, the owner was happy and is dead by now. The insurance company claims that they have title to that gold, hence a deal with the salvage company.

[rahimnathwani]

I'm confused by these two statements:

1. "if you find a ship floating away or something at the bottom of the ocean, it is yours to keep"

2. "The insurance company claims that they have title to that gold, hence a deal with the salvage company."

#1 says the salvage company has full claim to the gold

#2 says the insurance company has some claim

If the salvage company owns the gold, why can't they just ignore the insurance company and sell to the highest bidder?

[wahern]

I think point #1 is wrong. According to the International Convention on Salvage, the salvor has a right to a reward. See https://www.jus.uio.no/lm/imo.salvage.convention.1989 Negotiations, arbitration, and legal disputes likely have to do with establishing the amount of the award; that and all the other potential ancillary issues, like time bars, establishing rightful owner (e.g. not abandoned), subrogation rights, etc.

[itisit]

Ownership and title aren't exactly the same thing.

[pvaldes]

> "if you find something at the bottom of the ocean, it is yours to keep"

This is not so clear in the age of the submarine communication cables

[stouset]

> The insurance company claims that they have title to that gold, hence a deal with the salvage company.

Sure, but were the original owners alive today and the gold savaged, it would be considered the property of the salvage team. Why does this precedent change when an insurance company is involved?