Stolen artifacts from Gunilda wreck

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Belmont

Contributor
Messages
1,053
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Location
Montreal, Canada
# of dives
500 - 999
I was informed that divers stole precious artifacts that were on one of the most beautiful wreck in the world, The Gunilda.

It appears these scumbags are trying to sell china ware with the Gunilda crest on Ebay.

This wreck is protected and it is forbidden to remove any thing from it.

It lies in more than 200 feet in Lake Superior. Access to it is limited to technical divers and had been preserved from vandals since recently.

If anyone has info on the matter it can be transmitted to:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Mrs Debbie White
OPP Detective
Nipigon, Ontario
P0T 2J0

tel : (807) 887-2637

deb.white@ontario.ca
[/FONT]
Let's hope the diving community can weed out the bastards that commit these kind of crime.
 
Yeah, leave those artifacts alone so nature can wipe out all traces of them! The nerve of some people trying to bring up history for all to see and make money on it too! Outrageous!:sarcasm:
 
This wreck has been preserver for a hundred years in cold, oxygen poor fresh water.
It's in pristine condition and will remain so for a very long time.
I don't think that those thieves brought them up for all to see but just to make money. The buyers will certainly not put them on public display.

Your ready made arguments do not apply to this situation.

Before showing your ignorance get informed.

The Gunilda
 
This wreck has been preserver for a hundred years in cold, oxygen poor fresh water.
It's in pristine condition and will remain so for a very long time.
I don't think that those thieves brought them up for all to see but just to make money. The buyers will certainly not put them on public display.

Your ready made arguments do not apply to this situation.

Before showing your ignorance get informed.

The Gunilda

The thing is in 200t of water only a small number of people are ever going to see it.
What is it being preserved for the elite few? Of course the buyer is not going to display them a bunch of well meaning do gooders has made it illegal to even touch them. What good does it serve to "preserve" them?
How about a few hundred years from now?

There are artifacts on display in the maritime museum in my hometown that I "preserved" 35 years ago. Hundreds if not thousands of people have viewed them. I'm very proud of it. It's my ignorance and I'll show it whenever I want to.
 
The thing is in 200t of water only a small number of people are ever going to see it.
What is it being preserved for the elite few? Of course the buyer is not going to display them a bunch of well meaning do gooders has made it illegal to even touch them. What good does it serve to "preserve" them?
How about a few hundred years from now?

There are artifacts on display in the maritime museum in my hometown that I "preserved" 35 years ago. Hundreds if not thousands of people have viewed them. I'm very proud of it. It's my ignorance and I'll show it whenever I want to.

Good for you and the artifacts you preserved. Being in the ocean they would probably be gone by now.

The question is that those thieves stole items that were protected by law and kept safe where they lied. In the time frame we have here they are not for the pleasure of a select few but for the future generations when technical advancements will make it possible to raise them to the surface for the benefit of all.

The argument that something is kept for a select few is ridiculous. Should we dig up the cave decorations in Mexico for the masses or should we leave them where they are for the "select few"

There is a difference between what you did 35 years ago on abandoned wrecks and what these crooks did on a national historical site.
 
That is unfortunate. And yes the artifacts were very safe from the elements where they were. Isn't there a huge fine in Ontario for removing artifacts - something to the tune of one MILLION dollars?? With the seller tied to an eBay account as well as a method of purchasing the eBay auction and a verified bank account to receive the buyer's money - not smart.
 
This thread is a couple of years old but might serve as a good cautionary tale. At the time this was being investigated I spoke to OPP gal. No one was ever able to prove Gunilda artifacts were ever on eBay and after a search eBay states that no such item was ever on their web site. The complainant had a clear cut political agenda to change the legal status of the wreck site moving it from its current and continued ownership in the private sector to that of Parks Canada or the Province of Ontario. Dive shop gossip made its way into the Ministry of Culture and heritage who then pushed the investigation (much to the amusement of the investigating officer).
The Province of Ontario has two underwater archaeologist, one in planning and the other in management, and absolutely no one in the water. They have no credible field capability and have been warned by the courts that their habitual failure to comply with Ministry of Labour regulations was and is unlawful.
In the same way the complaint was bogus and a waste of tax dollars and above all totally deficient of any degree of credibility so are its authors. A big part of being an underwater archaeologist is the ability to work underwater on site; sitting around an office playing computer games is about as close to the Gunilda as these experts ever came or ever will come. In discussion with the OPP I suggested they be charged with Public Mischief (in Canada that’s the charge for sending the police on a wild goose chase). The may very well do so if this type of unsubstantiated nonsense continues.
Scott McWilliam
 
Was this reported to Ebay? They should stop the sale, if made aware that the items were 'stolen' from a protected wreck. Wreck protection is normally enshrined in some official regulation/law - thus making the removal of artifacts a 'theft'. Quite easy to prove that china is stolen goods..
 
I'm sure any :censored:s eBay had to give about some tin badge bureaucrat’s concerns as to this matter were given three years ago, DD.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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