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lagan (LAG-uhn) - n., anything sunk in the sea with a buoy attached so that it can be recovered.
As opposed to something floating, in which case it would be either flotsam, which fell off the ship when it was wrecked, or jetsam, which was thrown off, usually to lighten it in a crisis. Exactly which matters, because this affects who has salvage rights -- because the buoy shows intent to recover, lagan still belongs to original carrier. If it's on the bottom without a buoy, it's derelict. Lagan (also sometimes spelled ligan) first shows up around 1530, borrowed either from Middle French lagan or its source, Medieval Latin laganum, debris washed up from the sea, possibly of Germanic origin.
---L.
As opposed to something floating, in which case it would be either flotsam, which fell off the ship when it was wrecked, or jetsam, which was thrown off, usually to lighten it in a crisis. Exactly which matters, because this affects who has salvage rights -- because the buoy shows intent to recover, lagan still belongs to original carrier. If it's on the bottom without a buoy, it's derelict. Lagan (also sometimes spelled ligan) first shows up around 1530, borrowed either from Middle French lagan or its source, Medieval Latin laganum, debris washed up from the sea, possibly of Germanic origin.
---L.
