What is a Heritage Wreck?

[Ontario Diver]

What should define wrecks to be protected?

Does a blanket approach (ie. all shipwrecks and aircraft wrecks underwater for X number of years) good or bad?

[cobaltbabe]

That is the million dollar question. Do pleasure craft fall under that description? What size, age, ect...?

[Ontario Diver]

Under the current discussion paper the blanket inclusion would be for any vessel or aircraft partially or completely underwater for X years (where X is 100, 75, 50, 25 years to be determined.)

Additionally, other wrecks could be included if designated as heritage by a local, provincial, territorial, or federal authority.

[NetDoc]

First, I think any wreck over fifty years should be defacto "Heritage Wreck".

I also think this should be applied to all military vessels.

This gives salvage operators 50 years to try and reclaim any cargo etc. It also gives divers the opportunity to clean the lake of "junk".

All wrecks should be under this protection until proven that they do NOT fit the criteria and NOT the other way around.

[cobaltbabe]

So your saying that if my cris craft goes down and someone finds it in say 75 years, that is considered a heritage wreck?

[Ontario Diver]

Under the UNESCO converntion, US law, the proposed Canadian law etc, any vessel that sinks during non-commercial state business (ie warship or exploration vessel) remains the property of that nation forever.

And yes CB, your 75 year old Cris Craft is a heritage wreck under the blanket inclusion. Hmmm it was probably used for running Gin and Whiskey to the states during Prohibition. The idea is that all wrecks are considered important and worthy of being protected until determined otherwise. There are concerns over ownership of the wreck much like a city can declare a building a heritage site even though someone else owns it.

[cobaltbabe]

Interesting. Even though we spend so much time together, I was unaware of that. I think maybe I had better start asking questions a little more.

[Kennedydive]

Now if a 1954 Chris Craft Conquerer sunk in the ocean 1 week after it was bought and is now sitting in the bottom of the ocean where all that is left is small pieces of brass and a diesel engine than this would be a Heritage Site. To me Heritage should have more of a significant meaning than unclaimed junk. Something should be able to be learned from the site or have a historical significance to the community in which it's located. The blanket clause, from what I understand will also protect everything from being disturbed including that Soda Water bottle that some kid threw in the water 60 years ago or all the sites where garbage was put on the ice until it thawed. I just don't understand why everything should be heritage when only a very few are worthy enough to be deemed Heritage. An antique car is worth something. A junkyard full of mangled parts of antique cars is junk unless you find a mangled car that no one knew how it was made or who made it. Doesn't mean that all junkyards across the nation should be protected in case there happens to be one of those cars in there. If you have a junkyard full of cars in fantastic cars (Great Lake Shipwrecks) than it is an exception.
JK

[NetDoc]

Yeah,

There is a really old boat sunk in the middle of Lake Underhill, Orlando. I remember finding it back in 74 while we were looking for a lost rod and reel. It was an old cedar strip and some of the slats had come undone. I was surprised to see that it had sunk since it was made of wood. We tried to free the motor but ran out of air and never re-loacated it. Thinking on it now, I am glad that it's still down there waiting for me to find it another day.

[Kennedydive]

I'll buy that. In a protected lake. In the ocean that boat would not exist. You'd be lucky if you found the motor.
Jason