Frank Jig
Registered
Very cool link... I've always been fascinated by WW1 (mostly because my Grandfather was in it) but for whatever reason, I never looked into the nautical history.
Like others here, I understand the need to respect human remains and to conserve the historically important relics. Having said that, I don't think museums/scientific entities should be the only ones to be able to retrieve/keep these items. Take the Smithsonian for example: they have warehouse full of stuff that will never, ever be displayed. These items should be released to the public. It would at least keep the public engaged/interested in nautical archeology.
A copper nail from a known sunken frigate has very little historical value (when there are hundreds/thousands of them on one shipwreck). Now hand that same copper nail to a ten year old kid, and watch his/her imagination run wild, watch how he/she will cherished it.
Will that be enough to spark interest into pursuing a career in the sciences? Maybe, maybe not, either way releasing that copper nail to the public would certainly garnish more interest then if it were laying somewhere forgotten in the bottom in a drawer.
Like others here, I understand the need to respect human remains and to conserve the historically important relics. Having said that, I don't think museums/scientific entities should be the only ones to be able to retrieve/keep these items. Take the Smithsonian for example: they have warehouse full of stuff that will never, ever be displayed. These items should be released to the public. It would at least keep the public engaged/interested in nautical archeology.
A copper nail from a known sunken frigate has very little historical value (when there are hundreds/thousands of them on one shipwreck). Now hand that same copper nail to a ten year old kid, and watch his/her imagination run wild, watch how he/she will cherished it.
Will that be enough to spark interest into pursuing a career in the sciences? Maybe, maybe not, either way releasing that copper nail to the public would certainly garnish more interest then if it were laying somewhere forgotten in the bottom in a drawer.
