The way I interpret it, so long as it is afloat, it is flotsam. When it is thrown up on the beach, it becomes jetsam.I was taught the difference (and there may be some legal difference in salvage terms) was whether the items were set afloat accidentally, by the force of the waves or whatever, and were flotsam, or were deliberately jettisoned to help save the ship, and so were jetsam. By that definition they could both be washed ashore.
In googling (flotsam jetsam legal) I found differing definitions:
==========
FLOTSAM, JETSAM, LIGAN or FLOTSAN - A name for the goods which float upon the sea when a ship is sunk.
JETSAM or JETTISON - The casting out of a vessel, from necessity, a part of the lading; it differs from flotsam in that in the latter the goods float while in the former
they sink and remain under water.extra edited out
LIGAN or LAGAN. Goods cast into the sea tied to a buoy, so that they may be found again by the owners.
When goods are cast into the sea in storms or shipwrecks and
remain there without coming to land, they are distinguished by the names of jetsam, flotsam, and ligan.
========================================
but also
========================================
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "FLOTSAM" AND "JETSAM" In English common law, "flotsam" (derived from the Latin flattare, "to float") referred specifically to the cargo or parts of a wrecked ship that float on the sea.
"Jetsam" also derived from Latin - jactare, "to throw" referred to goods purposely thrown overboard in order to either lighten the ship or to keep the goods from perishing if the ship went under. Although the main distinction between the two terms was the way the goods got into the water, technically,
to become jetsam the cargo had to be dragged ashore above the high-water line. If not, the material was considered flotsam, which included all cargo found on the shore between the high and low-water lines.
=====================================
The more places I look the more definitions I find and the more confused I get.
Rod
