Shipwreck Law and Legal Definition
According to 33 CFR 13.01-20 (Title 33 - Navigation And Navigable Waters; Chapter I - Coast Guard, Department Of Homeland Security; Subchapter A – General; Part 13 - Decorations, Medals, Ribbons And Similar Devices; Subpart 13.01 - Gold And Silver Lifesaving Medals, Bars, And Miniatures), a shipwreck includes “an incident threatening persons whose lives are endangered by perils of the water as well as those who are, strictly speaking, no longer in danger from the sea or a body of water, that peril already having passed, but who are in imminent danger and in great need of succor or rescue, as e.g., being adrift in an open boat or stranded on some barren coast where, without succor or rescue, they would die of starvation, thirst, or exposure.”
