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Peter - I am a wreck diver and not an archaeologist. However, I do not like looking at the signs of diver damage to wrecks - port-holes wrenched off etc. When the wreck is a war grave, then I respect the fact that people died on it during a war. I respect the fact that a policy of "look but don't touch" applies. It is only by respecting these rules that we get the oppertunity to dive these wrecks. If we ignore them then we could quickly find ourselves banned from diving them ever again. There are some wonderful examples there to behold - HMS Hampshire was one of the best wreck dives I did this year and I think it would truely be a shame if it were denied to others. The UN is considering a world-wide policy of banning all diving on or near wrecks in order to preserve them from crow-bar and hacksaw wielding divers and salvors. If this goes through, then there will be no wrecks anywhere for us to enjoy and that is the legacy that wreckers like you will have left. >1) why do warships deserve protection from salvage while civilian ships do >not? If it is disturbing gravesites that outrages you, then there will be no >archaeology--terrestial or underwater--anywhere. An archaeologist does not take the same approach to a wreck as a diver - he does not rip off portholes to display in his living room. I did not ay warships deserve protection. I said that war graves should be respected. Plain and simple. >2) trawlers destroy far more shipwrecks than all the rapacious wreck divers >in the world Please outline how they do that. The typical scenario is that they snag nets on the wreck, often lose them and don't bother going back. I've often dived wrecks with nets draped over them but have not seen any damage done by the net. Am I missing something here? >3) the ocean destroys the ones that the trawlers miss--except for those >artifacts recovered and preserved by the desecrators and pillagers! Remember that I'm not talking about all wrecks - I'm talking about war graves. Let me clarify for you what a war grave is - it is a ship in her magisty's service that was sunk during wartime as a result of engagement which resulted in the loss of life. It does not include cargo ships that went down in bad weather or ships that were scuttled or used for target practice. It does not include all military wrecks. John. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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