[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 19, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 19CFR4.41]

[Page 38]
 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
 
PART 4--VESSELS IN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC TRADES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 4.41  Cargo of wrecked vessel.

    (a) Any cargo landed from a vessel wrecked in the waters of the 
United States or on the high seas shall be subject at the port of entry 
to the same entry requirements and privileges as the cargo of a vessel 
regularly arriving in the foreign trade. In lieu of a Cargo Declaration, 
Customs Form 1302, to cover such cargo, the owner, underwriter (if the 
merchandise has been abandoned to him), or the salvor of the merchandise 
shall make entry on Customs Form 7501, and any such applicant shall be 
regarded as the consignee of the merchandise for Customs 
purposes.76
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    \76\ ``* * * The underwriters of abandoned merchandise and the 
salvors of merchandise saved from a wreck at sea or on or along a coast 
of the United States may be regarded as the consignees.''* * * (Tariff 
Act of 1930, sec. 483; 19 U.S.C. 1483)
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    (b) All such merchandise shall be taken into possession by the 
director of the port where it shall first arrive and be retained in his 
custody pending entry. If it is not entered by the person entitled to 
make entry, or is not disposed of pursuant to court order, it shall be 
subject to sale as unclaimed merchandise.
    (c) If such merchandise is from a vessel which has been sunk in 
waters of the United States for 2 years or more and has been abandoned 
by the owner, any person who has salvaged the cargo shall be permitted 
to enter the merchandise at the port where the vessel was wrecked free 
of duty upon the facts being established to the satisfaction of the 
director of the port of entry.77 Any other such merchandise 
is subject to the same tariff classification as like merchandise 
regularly imported in the ordinary course of trade.
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    \77\ ``Whenever any vessel laden with merchandise, in whole or in 
part subject to duty, has been sunk in any river, harbor, bay, or waters 
subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and within its limits, 
for the period of two years and is abandoned by the owner thereof, any 
person who may raise such vessel shall be permitted to bring any 
merchandise recovered therefrom into the port nearest to the place where 
such vessel was so raised free from the payment of any duty thereupon, 
but under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may 
prescribe.'' (Tariff Act of 1930, sec. 310; 19 U.S.C. 1310)
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    (d) If the merchandise is libeled for salvage,78 the port 
director shall notify the United States attorney of the claim of the 
United States for duties, and request him to intervene for such duties.
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    \78 \Salvors have an uncertain interest in the goods salved, 
dependent upon the decree of a competent tribunal, and have a 
presumptive right without such decree to possession of merchandise 
salved by them from abandoned wrecks. The salvors are entitled in either 
case to make entry of derelict or wrecked goods.
    79-96 [Reserved]

[28 FR 14596, Dec. 31, 1963, as amended by T.D. 77-255, 42 FR 56321, 
Oct. 25, 1977; T.D. 87-75, 52 FR 20066, May 29, 1987; T.D. 95-77, 60 FR 
50010, Sept. 27, 1995; T.D. 99-27, 64 FR 13675, Mar. 22, 1999]

                          Passengers on Vessels