It's sad that divers would remove that.ReefHound:
Reply from Viking re: Oriskany ripoff
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mike_s
Contributor
jonnythan:
Yep. You're right. It is.
Apparantly Capt Tim doesn't have a problem with divers removing items from ships.
So since he doesn't mind, next time a diver is out on his boat and takes a crowboar and removes the GPS-Chart-Plotter from the console of his dive boat, surely he won't mind. Who's got 'dibbs' on his VHF radio?
I'm not going to get into the rights or wrongs of taking things off wrecks, or have a pop at Capt. Tim, but I do have to question the mentality of some of these people.
The Oriskany was sunk as an artificial reef, maybe mainly for fishermen, but it is still getting visited by hundreds, if not thousands, of divers, and it will be in the coming years. Therefore, any bits on it like phones, gauges, etc, give visiting divers something to see other than bare metal. Given time, it will be colonised by fish and marine life and then it will have far more to see as well as what was on it when sunk, but slowly seeing bits and bobs like this smothered by marine life is kind of cool. The Rosalie Moller in the Red Sea was a war casualty in the 1940s and sits upright in 50-odd metres. She still has portholes on her, and in the engine room, the original tungsten lightbulbs are still in place. All is slowly being covered by growth, but you can still see it and it is better to see it all in place than a bare hole or smashed console.
So what do people get out of ripping a piece of an artificial reef off??? It is the same mentality as the sad muppets diving in quarries here in the UK who feel the need to take bits off the cars, boats, planes and helicopters that have been sunk purposely so divers have something to look at other than barren rock and silt. Some **** has even taken their dive knife and cut out lumps of the tires on the heli, and others have battled to rip off the wing mirrors on the old cars. Why??? The bloody things are buoyed and in the majority of cases sitting in less than 20m. It is not the same as finding a virgin wreck in deep water and bringing up the bell or something else to identify it, is it?
Do you guys have the same problem with numpties ripping bits off stuff that has been sunk in your inland training lakes/quarries?
Mark
The Oriskany was sunk as an artificial reef, maybe mainly for fishermen, but it is still getting visited by hundreds, if not thousands, of divers, and it will be in the coming years. Therefore, any bits on it like phones, gauges, etc, give visiting divers something to see other than bare metal. Given time, it will be colonised by fish and marine life and then it will have far more to see as well as what was on it when sunk, but slowly seeing bits and bobs like this smothered by marine life is kind of cool. The Rosalie Moller in the Red Sea was a war casualty in the 1940s and sits upright in 50-odd metres. She still has portholes on her, and in the engine room, the original tungsten lightbulbs are still in place. All is slowly being covered by growth, but you can still see it and it is better to see it all in place than a bare hole or smashed console.
So what do people get out of ripping a piece of an artificial reef off??? It is the same mentality as the sad muppets diving in quarries here in the UK who feel the need to take bits off the cars, boats, planes and helicopters that have been sunk purposely so divers have something to look at other than barren rock and silt. Some **** has even taken their dive knife and cut out lumps of the tires on the heli, and others have battled to rip off the wing mirrors on the old cars. Why??? The bloody things are buoyed and in the majority of cases sitting in less than 20m. It is not the same as finding a virgin wreck in deep water and bringing up the bell or something else to identify it, is it?
Do you guys have the same problem with numpties ripping bits off stuff that has been sunk in your inland training lakes/quarries?
Mark
Diver0001:
I don't agree with that analogy but thats besides the point.
I will like to ask a question to those guys that think the Oriskany is just a piece of metal junk on the bottom of the sea. Why would you dive it if there is nothing of value to see?
Geez, how people rationalize things makes my head spin.
The Oriskany isnt a shipwreck (although its been made to look like one), there are no claims, or salvage rights, or whatever else applies to discoveries in the sea. It is, in effect, a publicly accessible park that happens to be underwater.
People wouldnt walk into a topside public park, see a statue and decide that it would look good in their backyard and cart it off. Or pry a piece of it off as a souvenir of their encounter. Would it be alright to dig up a flowerbed and plant the flowers at home? Well, actually, from some of what Ive read here, I guess people would and argue that its no big deal, and apparently their right.
Its vandalism. Whatever convoluted arguments people use to justify it doesnt change what it is. Topside or underwater, its the same thing. If youre going to try and justify it, at least accept what it is that people are doing.
My guess is that if it continues, someone will (if they arent already), look to make it off limits. Just like fencing and gating a topside park. So, yes, the implications of what people are trying to justify is the potential loss of a beautiful resource to future divers.
Justify that. :shakehead
The Oriskany isnt a shipwreck (although its been made to look like one), there are no claims, or salvage rights, or whatever else applies to discoveries in the sea. It is, in effect, a publicly accessible park that happens to be underwater.
People wouldnt walk into a topside public park, see a statue and decide that it would look good in their backyard and cart it off. Or pry a piece of it off as a souvenir of their encounter. Would it be alright to dig up a flowerbed and plant the flowers at home? Well, actually, from some of what Ive read here, I guess people would and argue that its no big deal, and apparently their right.
Its vandalism. Whatever convoluted arguments people use to justify it doesnt change what it is. Topside or underwater, its the same thing. If youre going to try and justify it, at least accept what it is that people are doing.
My guess is that if it continues, someone will (if they arent already), look to make it off limits. Just like fencing and gating a topside park. So, yes, the implications of what people are trying to justify is the potential loss of a beautiful resource to future divers.
Justify that. :shakehead
Soggy
Contributor
OHGoDive:
After reading your post, I wholeheartedly agree!
umm, not really. It's an 800+ ft long fishing site made of rusting metal that nobody wanted that divers happen to also use. It's not Dutch Springs 20 miles off of Pensacola!
Soggy
Contributor
OHGoDive:
Umm...by definition, that wouldn't be vandalism, but nice try. Are you a lawyer?
Soggy:
Umm... by definition,
http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/vandalism
I think it would be. No, I'm not a lawyer. Why, do you need one?
The argument seems to be:
It was uncerimoniously deposited where it is because it's worthless.
Therefore, divers can strip it clean of every mildly interesting bit.
It was uncerimoniously deposited where it is because it's worthless.
Therefore, divers can strip it clean of every mildly interesting bit.
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