This work focuses on a specific aspect of the enforcement of maritime claims, namely judicial sales of ships, a procedure creditors typically resort to in the event of an irreversible default situation. A substantial part of the book approaches the topic from a comparative perspective, the goal being to assess the similarities and differences of the judicial sale procedure between three specific jurisdictions: Belgium, the Netherlands, and England & Wales. In this study, the comparison is used to further analyse the impacts of these differences on the effectiveness and reliability of the judicial sale procedure in each jurisdiction and also forms the basis for assessing the feasibility of harmonising judicial sale procedures and fostering their acceptance. Considering the international character typical of judicial sales of ships, conflict-of-law questions are very likely to arise during these procedures. Accordingly, the comparative study, where appropriate, is viewed against a private international law background.