Originally posted by Loopy Diver
The government here is trying to stop people from diving war graves. I can understand that they would want to do that after all it is respectful to leave the dead alone.
Some people are saying though that it is unfair to do this as it is most of the wrecks around the British Isle which have deceased on board. Divers say that they only want to dive them and not plunder them.
What do you think?
I would suspect that knowing the reputation of divers it is simpler to ban rather than than control diving.
Lets face it, the people you find here might be happy to look and not remove. but you just have to look at some of the wrecks to see just how badly they have been vandalised.
Oban - the Breda - first time I went there 9 years ago there was a lot of stuff to see on her, gradually over the last 10 years it has all gone - last time I went there there I couldn't even find one of the funny old fashioned rubber trainers they had 1000's of aboard.
Red sea - Thistelgorm - even with the prohibition on bringing things up from this wreck, it is now a shaddow of its former self ( OK the steam engines are still there, it's a bit difficult to get an old steam train in the goody bag)
Andrea Doria - somewhere just off the coast of the US - look at any number of the andrea doria websites, in every single one, there are stories of peolpe who have died because they just *had* to get some china. OK china isn't too bad, but when all that is gone, then what? they will start bringing other things up. Dive it in another 15 years time, and what will the wreck be like?
If you have seen the video available of HMS Royal Oak (scapa - a war grave) that was taken when the navy dived on her it is almost pristene, and she is only in about 30m of water. The reason she is in pristine condition is that divers haven't been allowed to go down and remove things, and the navy / coastguard DO watch to ensure that no boats drop divers on her.
Personally I would LOVE to dive on this particular wreck, however, to avoid having divers rip it to shreads I will have to make do with the navy video.
Since ALL navy / airforce objects below the sea still belong to the Navy / airforce, it is upto them to decide what rules apply. The UK govy has decided on a no diving, so even if you don't agree, you can't dive it.
No matter what you think, they own them, they can say who dives on them.
Another good example is the Luisitania, this is a deep wreck just south of ireland, It is owned by an american, who has a policy of approving trips there. AFAIK a trip led by suitably qualified people isn't turned down, provided they promise to leave it as they found it.
Note for americans - the UK culture of taking bits of brass or anything moveable off wrecks if FAR worse than anywhere else in the world. Most wrecks in the UK have now had nearly everything removable removed. There are groups of divers who spend a lot of time and money to find pristine wrecks for the SOLE PURPOSE of removing souvenirs. To highlight this - one of the training lakes sank a boat there less than a year ago, it has now been quite badly vandalised (http://www.saa.org.uk/news/WreckAmnesty.pdf)
To prevent all wreck diving being banned in the UK, the MCA, MOD and all sorts of other people are trying to get more a culture of look, dont pry (ie pry off large lumps of brass with a large hammer + chisel). But they have all openly said that if things don't improve, legislation to ban ALL wreck diving is on its way.
sobering thought.
Jon T