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John- First, I think you had better re-evaluate what you consider a "war grave" "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" and "It does not include all military wrecks." I don't think that the relatives of veterans would agree that their sons and husbands (and in certain circumstances, wives and daughters) serving honorably during wartime, but who perished in a collision (during blackout conditions) or other frequent accident consider their deaths any less tragic than those lost during direct gunfire on a warship. Death is death. War is hell. If you want to ban wreck salvaging and artifact preservation, at least be consistent. Those of us who recover artifacts might understand and respect (but still disagree with) your point of view. >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? Obviously. Without going into lengthy detail on the practice of trawling, suffice it to say that the major destructive agent is the footrope. While trawl doors can degrade structure as well, the heavy-gauge cable that runs along the bottom of the net wreaks havoc on any and all structure. Whether it gets hung up on a wreck and abandoned or manages to rip itself free depends on the purchase of the gear and the horsepower of the fishing vessel (encounters with wrecks are generally avoided - there are some exceptions though). Wooden vessels, of course, are easier to impact. Talk to any groundfisherman on Cape Cod (non-draggers) and they can tell you of many wrecks that have been beaten down by draggers (trawlers) or scallop dredgers; some can't be found again. Many of these are unknown wrecks and haven't been dove, so what we are loosing is unknown. This goes for geologic formations as well. Refer to "Effects of Fishing Gear on the Sea Floor of New England" (Conservation Law Foundation, 1998). As for a specific example of a warship, there is the USS Moonstone off Ocean City, Maryland (US East Coast) sunk in 1943 during a collision with another warship during anti-submarine duty. Last year a trawler ripped off her deck gun - fresh cable marks and gear were left onsite. Oh, and since one of her crew was killed during this sinking, I suppose it could be considered a wargrave. Respectfully, Mike http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Dunes/6981 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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