STATE OF FLORIDA

2001 SALVAGE CONTRACTS

The following chapter includes examples of the contracts between the State of Florida and Mel Fisher Center, Incorporated. There are basically two types of contracts covered in this report for which examples are provided. The main difference between the two involves a substantial difference in fees as well as the fact that one was negotiated in 1989 while the others were all subject to a settlement agreement of 1983. While it would be optimal to include copies of all of the contracts and official documentation between the State of Florida and Mel Fisher Center, Inc., that would involve a large number of contracts and bulk which is actually repetitive documentation with the exception of the site descriptions. Thus for the sake of condensation, one example of each of the two main types are included in the following section.

The following contract examples are for the areas designated as S-32 and S-23. The S-32 contract specifies the conditions for salvage in the area approximately three miles North of the Sebastian Inlet also known as "Chucks Steakhouse" or the "Brass Telescope Wreck". All of the contracts with the exception of S-32 included a copy of the settlement agreement of 1983. Each of the contracts contained a copy of the "State of Florida's Archaeological Guidelines" which are included in the next chapter. There are similar contracts for all of the sites addressed in this report. The salvage activities for all of the contracted sits are addressed in later chapters.

It should be noted that Salvor's Inc. granted, assigned and transferred to Mel Fisher Center, Inc. all of its rights, title and interest in the Settlement Agreement dated June 3, 1983 by and between the Florida Department of State and Cobb Coin Company Inc. (a.k.a. Salvor's Inc.) and all related salvage agreements and admiralty claims in September 1998.

Previous Page