Journey of once-sunken sailboat reaches end, volunteer salvor feels left high and dry

No good deed goes unpunished. That's how Mark Griffin is feeling after he volunteered for public safety reasons to help raise and haul away a sailboat that sat at the bottom of the St. John River near Browns Flat for months with only the tops of its two masts visible.

Griffin, a Canadian Coast Guard contractor, took on the venture last month with hobby diver David Grandy and says it's been an ordeal ever since.

He estimates he spent between $5,000 and $10,000 in time, fuel and equipment between July 5 and 7 — closer to $30,000 if it had been a paid job he bid on.

That doesn't include the roughly 12 days he spent "babysitting" the moored Not a Starship at his Belleisle Bay marina to ensure the 13-metre boat didn't sink again. He had to wait for word from the coast guard about how the agency wanted to deal with the disposal, he said.

The boat did actually start to sink again at one point, when a 3,000-gallon-an-hour pump, which Griffin used for keeping pace with the water the vessel was taking on, malfunctioned.

"It wasn't down that far, but it was going down," he said. "If I would have went away somewhere for a day or two, that boat would have been sitting at the bottom at my place."

Grandy estimated the operation cost him close to $2,000 in time, materials and drysuit repair.

Meanwhile, according to Griffin, they both sought legal advice when Grandy allegedly received a letter from the coast guard warning that he, having taken possession of the boat as the salvor when they hauled it — and therefore assumed ownership —could face up to $6 million in fines or three months in jail if he didn't see to its disposal.

"That really, like, floored us," said Griffin.

Grandy declined to comment on this, and coast guard spokesperson Megan Gallant did not confirm or deny when asked by CBC News. She did say, however, that "a salvage company claimed salvor's rights and, therefore, assumed ownership of the vessel."

"At the same time, the company became liable and responsible for all the costs of the removal under the [Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act]."

Gallant declined to clarify to whom she was referring as the "salvage company," citing privacy, but before the salvor "took on full ownership and liability, [the coast guard] informed the salvor of their obligations and responsibilities under [the act]," she said in an emailed statement.

Under the act, a vessel's owner is responsible for using the boat safely, keeping it in good working order and properly disposing of it when it reaches the end of its life.

"This also includes being responsible for any response efforts that may need to be taken to eliminate threats of pollution or hazards posed by the vessel," said Gallant.