A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the state owns a shipwreck at the bottom of Somes Sound on Mount Desert Island, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The wreck, a two-masted Schooner named Dehli that sank more than 125 years ago after being loaded with granite paving stones, was found in late 2023 by a diver hired by JJM LLC, a private “exploration venture” company owned by Greg Johnston and Michael Musetti.
Since then, the company has been fighting with the state and the National Park Service for control of the wreckage, which sits below 120 feet of water.
JJM filed a salvage rights claim to the ship in federal court in 2024 seeking ownership rights to the wreckage, but the state challenged the claim, saying federal law has established that unclaimed shipwrecks lying in state waters belong to the state.
The National Park Service last year found that the shipwreck is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
In his ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Nivison cited the federal Abandoned Shipwreck Act, which bars private salvaging of a ship that is on the National Register without state approval, the Press Herald reported.
