The sheriff of every county in which any wrecked property shall be found, when no owner or other person entitled to the possession of such property shall appear, shall severally take all necessary measures for saving and securing such property; take possession thereof, in whose hands soever the same may be, in the name of the people of the state; cause the value thereof to be appraised by disinterested persons, and keep the same in some safe place to answer the claims of the persons entitled thereto.
New York Legal Code