Diver missing for 7 years recovered on Wilhelm Gustloff

[DandyDon]

Yes, entangled bodies in wrecks have a tendency to float away.

If in warm water and not entangled, I would think that one would surface as decomposing gases build up, at least for a while, and drift away with currents before wildlife stripped it.

However, in the cold Baltic waters (0F to 39F in winter according to the Wikipedia article linked in post #1, and I would not expect much warmer whenever he was lost), gases would be slow to build as crabs, eels, and such started to work - minimizing floating. If entangled, he might not drift at all. Once wildlife finished stripping the body, bones and an dry suit with no air would tend to settle into the silt. Am I wrong in my understanding here.

Perhaps "typically" but not always
I saw human remains on a wreck a few weeks ago. The ship went down in 1927

Anything more than bones?

 

[rjack321]

Anything more than bones?

No he's well preserved in very cold & deep water in the Great Lakes. In no way recognizable though, his limbs have mostly fallen off as well as his head. Its definitely a somber place.

 

[HKGuns]

I am glad the missing diver was found.

But talk about ruining a dive.......I can't imagine this is something anyone would want to discover on an otherwise normal day of diving.

There is obviously a duty to do something, but what do you do in such a situation? Leave things alone, surface and inform some authority? If so, whom?

Surely you don't recover the missing diver on your own?

 

[John the Pom]

I am glad the missing diver was found.

But talk about ruining a dive.......I can't imagine this is something anyone would want to discover on an otherwise normal day of diving.

There is obviously a duty to do something, but what do you do in such a situation? Leave things alone, surface and inform some authority? If so, whom?

Surely you don't recover the missing diver on your own?

A first responder friend of mine found a body on a recreational dive. Realising he was in no position to recover the body himself, he recorded the location as carefully as he could; retrieved a single item which might help with the identification; and passed on the information to the local police ASAP after the dive. The body was subsequently recovered by police divers.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I am glad the missing diver was found.

But talk about ruining a dive.......I can't imagine this is something anyone would want to discover on an otherwise normal day of diving.

There is obviously a duty to do something, but what do you do in such a situation? Leave things alone, surface and inform some authority? If so, whom?

Surely you don't recover the missing diver on your own?

T'would indeed be interesting to learn how the finding divers dealt with this event but it wasn't a "normal dive" from the outset.

 

[Chidiver1]

This is incorrect
Warships are owned by the country of origin in perpetuity even in international waters.

Which is what makes the destruction of the Repulse and other wrecks in the south china sea illegal as well as reprehensible.

When did this happen? Never saw any news on it.

 

[rjack321]

When did this happen? Never saw any news on it.

Years ago
Celebrated British warships being stripped bare for scrap metal

Although it continues anything remotely within reach is being stolen
UK investigates fresh reports of looting of sunken navy ships

 

[Chidiver1]

Years ago
Celebrated British warships being stripped bare for scrap metal

Although it continues anything remotely within reach is being stolen
UK investigates fresh reports of looting of sunken navy ships

I meant in the S. China Sea.

 

[DandyDon]

I meant in the S. China Sea.

Several losses have been in the news in recent years.

Two Dutch Shipwrecks From WWII Just Vanished Near Malaysia

 

[rjack321]

I meant in the S. China Sea.

Ummmmm there are hundreds of articles on the looting of WW2 ships in southeast Asia...

Over 1,000 wrecks pillaged in the South China sea alone.
The race to save up to 50 shipwrecks from looters in Southeast Asia

Illegally diving on war graves like happened in this tragic accident is not inconsequential anywhere.