Can we take things from the ocean?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My guess is that this wasn't in international waters.

16th-Century Shipwreck Off Florida Coast Is Worth Millions. But It Belongs to France, not US.

A 16th-century shipwreck off the coast of Florida dates from the first French colonial voyages to the Americas – which means that the wreck's finders won't be allowed to salvage items from it, a U.S. judge has ruled.

www.livescience.com

 

[Celt]

If something is not supposed to be there then take it away. If I was working on the bottom I'd try to take as much rubbish as I could, but one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. To me if I can sell it its scrap if not its for the recycling bin. Copper is 6000 a ton. Its funny people getting upset about war wrecks especially when they've been sent to the bottom by bombs and torpedoes. You don't see many burnt-out tanks left around the place. There's no bodies on wrecks there all well eaten and gone off into oblivion.

 

[Eric802]

If something is not supposed to be there then take it away. If I was working on the bottom I'd try to take as much rubbish as I could, but one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. To me if I can sell it its scrap if not its for the recycling bin. Copper is 6000 a ton. Its funny people getting upset about war wrecks especially when they've been sent to the bottom by bombs and torpedoes. You don't see many burnt-out tanks left around the place. There's no bodies on wrecks there all well eaten and gone off into oblivion.

And I would imagine those tanks had human remains removed for proper burial before they were cleaned up. The sailors who went down on the warships didn't have that respect afforded them.

And as a practical matter, I imagine it would've been a bit trickier cleaning up after WWII if we had to leave all the burned out tanks in place.

 

[Celt]

And I would imagine those tanks had human remains removed for proper burial before they were cleaned up. The sailors who went down on the warships didn't have that respect afforded them.

And as a practical matter, I imagine it would've been a bit trickier cleaning up after WWII if we had to leave all the burned out tanks in place.

It's a sensitive subject but a body that ends up in the sea isn't there long. But my point was after the body's were taken from the tanks the tanks weren't left there as memorials like some wish to see shipwrecks left. I understand some went down with huge casualties and it's sensitive to relatives. But the bodies are not still in the wrecks.

 

[liverocks]

Good guess....was found by a company here in Florida. Is less than 100 yards off shore right in front of Kennedy space center. But...will never be investigated due the Florida's laws.

 

[100days-a-year]

If it's not a war grave and in saltwater I don't care who takes what. If it has treasure on it and not a war grave I'll just post up the coordinates on public forums and the authorities can kick rocks finding every little piece the flock takes off it.
I find the idea that any foreign power owns any lost property not on thier own soil or waters in perpetuity abhorrent.
War grave raiding is off limits for me as I am a Navy vet and many my family dating back to time we threw off the shackles of the colonialists from Europe have been as well.

 

[agilis]

Skeletal remains of crew from ships sunk by U boats off the NJ coast were taken on rare occasions by some rather thoughtless divers back in the early 60s. I saw some in a dive shop a very long time ago. I was horrified, but these early gonzo divers had no compunctions about such things. In that connection, my mother remembered that NJ beaches were closed during the war for security reasons and also because in '42 and '43 quite a few bodies would wash up from merchant ship sinkings. There were still a lot of heavy wooden ship remains on our beaches when I was a little kid, many showing the marks of ship fires. Members of my family, all long gone, lived near the beach and remembered seeing a few fireballs far out at sea on moonlit nights.

 

[TMHeimer]

One simplistic but practical answer is, “Who cares who owns them? I know I don’t.”

The reality is more complicated. Some are owned or managed by marine parks, some by insurance companies that paid out claims after sinkings, some by the countries under whose flag they sailed, perhaps some others by countries in whose waters they lie. And it probably gets more complicated when you start asking who can obtain or grant rights or permissions to remove stuff, let alone keep it.

For my purposes, I’ll stick with the simplistic answer. It’s enough to know the stuff isn’t mine.

I thought it may be complicated like that. Then again, I thought maybe some are just lying there and whoever owned them no longer does....such as, why would an insurance company want to own a wreck (what would they do with it? Perhaps for some legal reason?).

 

[Bob DBF]

...why would an insurance company want to own a wreck (what would they do with it? Perhaps for some legal reason?).

Because they may be able to recover some their loss at a later date.

 

[FF / EMT]

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Edit oops wrong thread