Oriskany Tagging

[amaze]

Rode out to the oriskany a week or so ago with a recreational dive buddy friend for 2 dives on the carrier's superstructure. We went out on the H2O below (my second trip on that dive boat) scheduled through MBT and Captain Douglas provided us with a great ride and we met a lot of nice people. It's been 6 months since it was reefed and a nice fuzzy biofilm now covers the exterior surface and there were a lot of different species feeding on it...Biofilms are collections of microorganisms and they form a base for ecosystem development; you might be familiar with them as that furry feeling on your teeth that you brush off a couple of times a day. Well what prompted me to post this is the volume of grafiti (aka tagging) that is scratched into the biofilm at a bunch of spots on the carriers superstructure. "<pick a name> was here" along with a date. That crap certainly reduced my enjoyment of the dive. Why is it that divers must do that? I'm not sure that it can be stopped but at least maybe the boats might mention to those diving the wreck that it would be appreciated if they did not deface it with inane tagging. It is an act of vandalism. Some people say they do it for peer recognition, how that works here i just can't fathom. If i come upon someone doing that it will be time for an ooa training experience. If you see someone doing it, please stop them. Bill Huth

 

[ams511]

There was a recent post similar to yours about a diver complaning about fellow divers defacing caves. I do not know what motivates them, probably an ego thing. I can't leave my foot print on the moon, so I scratch my name into a wreck or a cave wall.

 

[ReefHound]

If i come upon someone doing that it will be time for an ooa training experience. If you see someone doing it, please stop them. Bill Huth

And if they get their air back on and put the blade of their dive knife six inches into your chest, they will get away with it scot free as an act of self-defense.

 

[BigWhiteSquare]

Wow! I've never seen anyone so worked up over... slime. :huh:

 

[Skyjunky]

I saw some names and dates when I went, however it was past crewman that scrawled their names on the superstructure during the ceremony before the reefing.

 

[waterpirate]

Sit Back, relax and enjoy your dive. Really. Nature and the "bio-film" will soon grow back into the spaces and erase all.
Eric

 

[amaze]

oh well...have at it...:shakehead ...its just a wreck...why does it matter if we leave the artifacts? lets take the brass and other stuff as well, no one will notice that it's gone and the fish don't care Some grafitti can be art...lets see if we can get an agency to develop a specialty in underwater art. That might be a bit more palatable then the scratchings that are there now.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I took a lot of heat for removing some items from a wreck which was intentionally sunk for diving and fishing in 100 feet of water... Within 10 years it was reduced to a pile of junk by storms. A wreck isn't a cave and I'm sure that the fouling organisms will come back quick!

 

[sEANx32]

I've heard a strange idea that pictures of a diver with a wreck in the background are good bragging rights!! :11: Imagine that, pictures to prove you were there...

On the other hand, brass is cool too....

 

[Carribeandiver]

I took a lot of heat for removing some items from a wreck which was intentionally sunk for diving and fishing in 100 feet of water... Within 10 years it was reduced to a pile of junk by storms. A wreck isn't a cave and I'm sure that the fouling organisms will come back quick!

here's the rule: Admire, stare in awe, gaze in wonderment, but do not touch. Common sense dictates it so. Why do you think you are above everyone else? IF everyone removed something seemingly insignificant, if everyone had to touch this or that, wouldnt the experience be different for those that follow?
Enjoy the beauty, do not deface it, remove it, alter it or damage it.