Problem
The barge was to be used, in a widely publicised operation, to lift the wreck and any artefacts of a very famous ship which lay at the bottom of the Thames. The barge sank on 8 June after a number of artefacts, worth approximately £100,000, had been recovered and brought safely to shore, but before the lift of the wreck itself had begun. As it was the only vessel capable of lifting the wreck, the whole project had to be abandoned. Scavengers had paid the first instalment, but not the other two.
Oceanics had made the specified alterations at a cost to them of £12,000.
Scavangers has received a letter from Oceanics claiming £140,000 (representing the total amount of the instalments that Scavengers should have paid on 1 June and 15 July).
Advise Scavengers, explaining its legal position, if the barge sank in a hurricane.