Shipwrecks are governed by maritime salvage law, an international set of legal conventions governing the recovery of vessels and properties aboard them.
In a nutshell, the putative owner of the vessel or the properties recovered from it has two years from the end of salvage operations to lay claim to the vessel/goods recovered. If the salvage was not performed under contract, then they must pay fair value for the salvage services, but the sources I found are all over the board on what "fair value" is in that context.
Shipwrecks are governed by maritime salvage law, an international set of legal conventions governing the recovery of vessels and properties aboard them.
In a nutshell, the putative owner of the vessel or the properties recovered from it has two years from the end of salvage operations to lay claim to the vessel/goods recovered. If the salvage was not performed under contract, then they must pay fair value for the salvage services, but the sources I found are all over the board on what "fair value" is in that context.