Thracian pays a dividend . by Captain C F trader Horn . a salvage award may be the seaman &apos;s pools prize - but often it is no more than a fourth dividend &amp;hellip; . salvage ! the very word has a special ring for the sailor , rather like the magic words first dividend have for the football pools enthusiast ashore . the very nature of the sailor &apos;s calling very often debars him from taking part in the pools , so any dreams he may have of sudden opulence are usually centred around a share of a big award for salvage at sea . even so , any award he may get will n&apos;t compare with the fabulous pools &apos; prizes , and he &apos;ll undoubtedly have to work extremely hard for it , and possibly face great danger . salvage awards are determined by the Admiralty courts , which take into account all the risks involved , so even if our sailor chances upon an abandoned luxury liner , lying placidly on a tranquil sea and just waiting to be towed in , it will n&apos;t bring him a first dividend ! marine salvage laws are complex , and one needs to be a Dutch lawyer to understand them . sufficient for the sailor to know the main factors which govern the amount he is likely to get for his prize if , in fact , anything at all ! masters of all ships have an express duty to render assistance to persons in danger at sea , oddly enough including enemy subjects in time of war . the rescue of ships , lives or cargo from danger is a salvage service , and rewards for such services are paid according to the risks run by the salvors , the value of the property they risk and , of course , what is saved and from what danger . the few occasions when I &apos;ve had a personal interest in a salvage claim - even when all added together - have n&apos;t produced enough even to buy a coffee stall . they all occurred during my service with the Trinity House , which is not altogether surprising when one remembers that ships of the Trinity House service frequently put to sea on emergency calls , when other ships are running for shelter , and it &apos;s usually under just those conditions that help is called for . they ranged from drifting bales of raw silk to part cargo from the much-publicized wreck of the flying enterprise , but the biggest one , which initially seemed to spell shore-bound independence , happened in the winter of 1955 , just one year before I swallowed the anchor . as is nearly always the case with salvage work , it was one of those nights when sailors envy farmers their jobs - as black as Egypt &apos;s night , pouring with rain and blowing a gale from the south-east . we &apos;d had a really dirty passage south from Flamborough Head , and had tucked ourselves close under the lee of Scroby Elbow in Yarmouth Roads for the night . Scroby Elbow is a small , natural inlet on the landward side of the Scroby Sands , which run parallel to the Norfolk coast , and quite a big ship can creep in there with local knowledge - it &apos;s the only bit of shelter for miles when the wind &apos;s south-easterly in that area . I was quite tired and very relieved when I wrote finished with engines in the logbook , set anchor watches and went below to the wardroom . we &apos;d just about settled down to our evening meal when a quartermaster appeared to report a ship on fire about three miles north of us . in view of the weather conditions , we &apos;d maintained a full head of steam , so it was n&apos;t long before we were under way and steaming towards the other ship at our best speed . I was on the navigating bridge , while the officers mustered the hands to make our boats ready with blankets and medical stores , and prepared the fire-fighting equipment . I could tell from the bearing of the ship in distress that she was probably ashore on the northern end of the sandbank , and the flames the quartermaster had seen were actually distress signals which are described in the regulations as flames from a burning tar barrel , oil barrel , etc . soon this was confirmed as she started to fire distress rockets , and I saw the maroon from shore announcing the launching of the Caister lifeboat . the lifeboat and the ship I was commanding , the T.H.V warden , reached a spot abreast of the grounded ship at the same time , and our motor launch was lowered to assist the lifeboat in the rescue of the crew . this tricky manoeuvre was carried out by the lifeboat &apos;s crew with an easy coolness , in spite of the foul weather and , as a sailor , I was filled with admiration for the seamanlike way in which it was done . when the stranded ship had been abandoned , we approached her as near as possible , with a searchlight playing on the wreck . in its powerful beam I could see that she was a steam trawler of some two-hundred and fifty tons , the Thracian , registered in the port of Grimsby , and I learned later that she was bound for Ostend . it was still flood tide ( rising ) although it had eased , and the force of the wind was great enough to prevent her driving any farther on to the bank . this was a good omen , for I hoped that at slack water the gale force weight of the wind might shift her . we had to stay by her in any case . as a derelict , she was a potential danger to navigation and was , therefore , the responsibility of Trinity House . added to this , in their haste to leave her , the crew had left her navigation lights burning , which could easily be misleading to other shipping . my surmise was right , for an hour or so later her bow started to lift to the big ground swell , showing that only her stern was still aground . we weighed anchor and approached her still nearer , but with great care , fixing our position constantly , and continuously sounding the depth of water , for this was the moment if we were going to get her off . some of our ratings had already been placed on board Thracian by warden &apos;s motor boat , and had put out a fire , on her engine-room skylight , which had been started by the flame distress signals . they &apos;d also drawn her stokehold fires , for if they &apos;d been left alight , with no feed water going into the boilers , they might have blown up . in a ship drawing fifteen feet , when one is approaching a hidden danger in a full gale and , with the tide setting on one side and the wind pressing on the other , making leeway which can not be accurately calculated , it is not easy to appear calm as , in sing-song monotony , the soundings are called to the bridge from the leadsman in the chains . by the mark , three . and a quarter less , three . this was as near as we could go , with just eighteen inches of water under our keel . now my ship had to be held there , for we were near enough to run a rope away and get it on board the trawler . in retrospect , it was an easy job , for there were no snags ; but I suspect that I got three more grey hairs during the operation . at long last we had the Thracian secured alongside our starboard side , against huge coir fenders , our launch was hoisted inboard and both ships were in deep water again . the weather had worsened , and to leave the comparative shelter of Yarmouth Roads would have been madness . Yarmouth Haven is always a tricky place to enter in a south-east wind , and even for an unimpeded ship it would have been hazardous under the prevailing conditions . to do so with another vessel in tow was impossible , so I took my tow back to my sheltered anchorage to ride out the storm . when daylight came I surveyed my prize . she was no luxury liner . she certainly looked her part of a derelict , and I learned later that she had been sold for scrap , and a scratch crew were taking her on her last voyage to the Belgian breakers &apos; yard . just my luck , I thought . for the next two days it blew really hard without the slightest abatement . Thracian surged and ranged against our ship-side , chewing away the fendering , and fraying and parting the mooring ropes holding the two ships together . we dropped her astern , on the end of a seven-inch manilla , for comfort , and she laid comfortably on the ebb tide ; but so great was the wind force , that on the flood she kept driving up on us , so there was no respite for the watch on deck . twice we got under way and ran down to the haven entrance , but each time we poked our noses outside the friendly lee of the sands , it was obvious that it was quite hopeless . the seas breaking high over the south pier lighthouse , and the gyrating boil between the piers , spelt disaster for anyone ill-advised enough to attempt to cross the bar . I learned over the radio-telephone that charges for towage into the port were based on the tonnage of the towing vessel , so I engaged a local tug to do the job for twenty pounds . it was more than forty-eight hours after we had plucked the trawler off the sandbank before conditions improved sufficiently to allow us to hand her over to the harbour tug , and be berthed in Yarmouth Haven . I deposited a claim for salvage with the receiver of wrecks , and learned that I was now a ship owner , and responsible for all debts she incurred , such as harbour dues , moorings , etc , until such time as she was handed back to her rightful owner . for his part , he had to deposit a considerable sum of money before he could sail her again , pending negotiations on our claim . these were quite protracted , and it was many months before we agreed a mutual settlement . it was n&apos;t a first dividend - unless there were a lot of winners that week ! the laws of salvage . as salvage operations are often attended by considerable hard work and great risk , the obligation to pay compensation is so obviously based on the principles of justice that payment has been allowed at all times by every civilized country . to qualify for salvage , it must be shown that ( 1 ) services were rendered voluntarily , ( 2 ) there was the chance of destruction if the service had been withheld , and ( 3 ) the services rendered were of actual benefit . towage , in most cases , gives no right to compensation payment as distinct from towage fees , and a ship &apos;s crew is expected , in the ordinary course of duty , to do all that may be necessary to save their vessel . however , if unusual services are performed , or unforeseen perils encountered , a claim is nearly always sustained . salvage laws quote an example of circumstances in which there would be an entitlement to reward . if a vessel , whose captain is ignorant of the locality , during a heavy storm is driving towards a dangerous shore , and a pilot , seeing her loss to be inevitable , puts out to sea to assist , he would be entitled to salvage , because his services could not reasonably be expected in return for ordinary pilots &apos; fees . in the absence of any prior agreement between the parties as to the rate of salvage payable , the amount is assessed , as a rule , by the Admiralty court . and in the case of any such agreement having been made , the court would still set it aside if it considered the amount exorbitant , and that it had been agreed to by the master of the ship under moral compulsion . salvage money is divided in certain proportions between the owners , captain , other officers , and the crew of the salving vessel . girl divers of Japan . ever since the tenth century , Japanese girls have been plunging into the waters around their country &apos;s coastline , in their search for pearls , and for the seaweed used as fertilizer . known as amas , these girls , wearing only shorts and goggles , comb the sea bed for the prize , their sole equipment being a knife with a foot-long blade , and a basket to carry their catch . 