Why do you penetrate wrecks?

[aue-mike]

LOST AT SEA:
A treatise on the management and ownership of shipwrecks and shipwreck artifacts

http://uwex.us/lostatsea.htm

 

[MikeFerrara]

Fortunately (or unfortunately as timing would have it) the wreck was purposely sunk in the "Wrecks to Reefs" program and had been cleared of obstructions beforehand - making it perfect for penetration if it had been planned.

You mean perfectly boring for penetration? The interesting ones sit as they landed aside from environmental deterioration of course. Wrecks still full of cargo, tools and furniture are the best.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't take stuff out of wrecks because where I do most of my wreck diving it is illegal (the Great Lakes). I also have enough junk around the house as it is. rusted tools, piles of barrel slats and whatever else are neat to see in the wreck but they'd look awful in my living room. On the other hand some of the stuff already in my living room might look perfectly natural inside a wreck. LOL

 

[diverbrian]

As a Great Lakes wreck diver, I am with Mike Ferrara. I have enough "stuff" sitting around. I don't need to add to the collection. I do like my digital photos that take up nothing but memory on my computer, LOL!

I read stories about port holes coming up and that type of thing in salt water. I have little problem with that, but I feel that is a bit extreme to go down with a hacksaw and take the RDF antenna off of a WW2 U-Boat? That is a part of the dive that someone will not get to enjoy now, but that is tempered with the knowledge that sooner or later the Atlantic Ocean would have claimed it anyways. So, if in salt water where artifact recovery is legal... knock yourselves out!

In cold freshwater, the wrecks are far more interesting as time capsules. I routinely dive 100+ year old wrecks that look much as they did when they when down. I am appreciative of the laws protecting said wrecks for that reason. These wrecks will be there 20 yrs. from now looking much the same as they do now for our enjoyment. I would rather take a camera and minimize diver impact on the wreck. One of these days, I will want to go inside further than I do now and it is nice to know that I will be able to see much of what other people have seen about life in the late 1800's through 1900's.

 

[Tavi]

Amen, Brother!!