Sunderlands won't have to repay rescue costs, thanks to the Titanic?

The international effort to save teen sailor Abby Sunderland from a trip to Davy Jones’ Locker cost an estimated $500,000; most of that cost picked up by Australia and France. But rescue agencies from those two countries are brushing off the notion that Abby’s parents should reimburse them, citing a maritime law agreement that can trace its origin to the sinking of The Titanic in 1912. Stupid iceberg.

“That’s not the way the law works,” Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on the weekend. “The Australian taxpayer at the end of the day makes a contribution. But we have to put this in context. If there was an Australian lost at sea we would want … every effort to be made to save that person.”

More from Tanlee Smith’s report today from the Associated Press:

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was first adopted in 1914 in response to the Titanic disaster. Along with mandating the number of lifeboats and the notification of a ship’s routes, it also dictates that any ship in the area of a distress call will divert to assist that ship.

Abby’s rescue tab included:

* Australia’s rescue agency chartered a jet to fly over the area where her emergency beacon was activated. The 11-hour flight cost an estimated $94,500.

* After locating her, the agency sent another plane to coordinate her pickup by ships racing toward her damaged and drifting yacht. The Australian military also deployed two Orion aircraft to wait on an Indian Ocean island in case an airdrop or further assistance was needed. An Orion costs about $20,000 an hour to operate.

* The French territory of Reunion Island diverted three ships to Sunderland’s location. The fishing vessel that reached her first lost at least three days of work; a commercial ship also sent to her rescue would have added three or four days of travel time to its intended destination.

Fun facts: In 1997, Australia spent $6 million to rescue British sailor Tony Bullimore and Frenchman Thierry Dubois, who both went missing while competing in a solo yacht race known as the Vendee Globe. In 1998 and ’99, Frenchwoman Isabelle Autissier, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, was rescued — twice — at a cost of $5.8 million, causing much controversy. Many Australians called her “selfish.”
In this case, the Sunderlands seem to be the only ones who will actually profit. Abby Sunderland announced on Wednesday that she’s going to write a book about her experience.

“At first I decided that I wasn’t going to write a book. But then I started to think about all the good times Wild Eyes and I have had together,” Sunderland wrote on her blog. “All that’s left of the voyage of Wild Eyes are my memories, eventually they will get fuzzy and I won’t remember all the details. I don’t want that to happen. Wild Eyes and my trip have been the best thing I have ever done or been through and I don’t ever want to forget all the great times we have had together, or the bad ones for that matter.”

Oh, and the Sunderlands are no longer speaking to the press about Abby’s rescue. They’ve hired a media consultant for that.
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International obligations add up [Reluctant Politician]
Countries paying teen’s rescue cost defend sea law [Yahoo News]
Abby Sunderland will write a book [Christian Science Monitor]
Abby Sunderland blog