While the word salvage conjures for some the visions of the recovery of a treasure from the wreck of a long lost Spanish galleon and for others rescue tugs driving through mountainous seas to aid a stricken vessel, in reality plenty of small salvage operations occur all the time and they have now become a very busy industry. Patching and refloating a sunken skiff or towing in a disabled yacht are as much an act of salvage as refloating a standard supertanker.