...Michigan Department of Natural Resources...claims ow
nership over all Great Lakes shipwrecks in the state’s waters, although it acknowledges France would have rights to the Griffin because it was sailing under the authority of King Louis XIV.
**
Why would France still have rights to it after all of this time? Would it not be considered abandoned?
“Why would France still have rights to it after all this time?”
Admiralty law. Basically government ownership trumps private ownership.
“Why would France still have rights to it after all of this time? Would it not be considered abandoned?”
See the following Webpage for the full story:
Sunken Warships and Military Aircraft
by J. Ashley Roach, Captain, JAGC, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-7j.htm
“Warships, naval auxiliaries, and other vessels owned or operated by a State and used at the time they sank only on government non-commercial service, are State vessels.8 Aircraft used in military, customs and police services are State aircraft.9 International law recognizes that State vessels and aircraft, and their associated artifacts, whether or not sunken, are entitled to sovereign immunity.10”