While the coastguard was clear that they didn’t mean the bananas

this does not include perishable goods like foodstuffs.

Either way though, everyone here IS following maritime salvage law.

The “long established” rule that is that the owner has all rights to the cargo and wreck, but must compensate those who assist in recovery if the owner agrees to assistance

The British maritime law that keeps getting referenced was put into place initially to ensure that people would be compensated completely when assisting. Previously, when it was a raw ‘handshake’ agreement, there would be negotiations before helping, or Party A would screw over Party B with a low-ball reward, or Party B would just nope out of the situation out of fear of not getting reimbursed.

The shipping company in this situation sent a list of missing stuff. If you find missing stuff, you report it, and they know how much you should be compensated and make sure you get it. In this case, they want their expensive refrigeration equipment.