Call for curbs on deep-sea looters

Press, 3 August 1985, Page 19

Call for curbs on deep-sea looters

From

JOHN WEIR

in London

British divers are looting historic sunken ships on a massive scale, claim a growing number of marine archaeologists. Now they are pressing for tighter controls to protect wrecks.

Bernard Eaton, editor of “Diver” magazine, wrote recently that divers were obsessed with the ambition “to unscrew, unbolt, or detach anything that can be taken off a wreck.”

According to Eaton, there are sideboards and mantlepieces groaning under the weight of goodies—brass portholes, compasses, telegraphs, ships bells, and the like. “We must be one of the few countries in the world where such behaviour is so common art<l so

tolerated,” he says.“ Perhaps it is time for some thought to be given to conserving wrecks.” His remarks have caused considerable controversy. In the latest edition of “Diver,” there are two pages of letters criticising or supporting Eaton’s stand. While no-one

actually agrees with looting historic wrecks, many divers have little time for his views. Steve McGregor, of Basingstoke, wrote: “If I dive to 35 metres in Stygian darkness on a rapidly disintegrating mass of steel that )

was a casualty of war 60-odd years ago and among the plates find a shapeless lump of crudded-up something or other which on very close examination in the one-metre visibility turns out to be a ship’s whistle, am I to leave it there, and if so, for whose benefit?.”

However, Rex Cowan, an internationally known diver who has salvaged wrecks such as the Dutch East Indiaman Hollandia off the Scilly Isles, said: “It is now up to the diving world collectively and ij individually to set the limits of

underwater behaviour.” Since the raising of the 450-year-old Tudor warship Mary Rose off Portsmouth two years ago, there has been a great increase in awareness of how rich the seabed is in history. Concern has grown that many ships should not be touched without archaeological supervision.

In the last 30 years the aqualung has made the seabed increasingly accessible to thousands of amateur and professional divers. It has also made souvenir and treasure hunting, as well as large-scale salvage operations much easier.

Some 29 historic wrecks are designated under the Protection of Wre<fs Act 1973. They include

Henry V’s Gracie Dieu of 1439 in the River Hamble, Hampshire, and a Bronze Age wreck off Dover. Many other wrecks have, in theory, rightful owners and salvors. A draft convention on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage will go before the Council of Europe for ratification in September. It will bring further pressure on Britain to apply stricter laws on marine looters.

In recent years only one diver has been prosecuted for theft. He was given a three-month suspended sentence and fined $135 for stealing treasures from historic wrecks, including the Mary Rose.

Copyright—London Observer Service. 'if if