salvage

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
salvage/ˈsalvɪʤ/

▶verb

• 1 rescue (a ship or its cargo) from loss at sea.

• 2 retrieve or preserve from loss or destruction.

▶noun

• 1 the process of salvaging.

• 2 the cargo saved from a wrecked or sunken ship.

  ■ Law payment made or due to a person who has saved a ship or its cargo.

– derivatives
salvageable adjective,
salvager noun.

– origin C17 (as a noun denoting payment for saving a ship or its cargo): from Fr., from med. L. salvagium, from L. salvare ‘to save’.