Treasure hunter roils the waters as he makes new finds

[Aquanomad]

Amazing this guy is out there still making finds at 70! And claims to not profit from his endeavors. Archeologists spend insane amounts of time and preperation before removing any finds. So what are your thoughts. Should historically significant finds be left to the scholars or is it first come first served?

Treasure hunter roils the waters as he makes new finds - Yahoo News
Treasure hunter roils the waters as he makes new finds

 

[Jared0425]

First come first serve. He spent the time and resources locating the wreck then he deserves the reward if there is any. There is not much an archelogist can reveal that we don't already know with vessels dating from 1600 and up due to the fact that many resources are still available today after 500 years.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

First come first serve here as well. There are some great items stuffed in the vaults, closets, and basements of museums that no one will ever see. Simply because an archaeologist thought that they knew better. Worse are those not found by them but by regular people who thought turning the items over would be a good idea. If it's in the ocean and not a war grave it's fair game for whoever puts in the work to find and retrieve it. Personally I wouldn't care if one of my relatives was on one of those ships and someone brought up stuff from it. Just leave the bones. The person has been gone a long time. There's no disrepect in my mind to some chunks of calcium.

 

[CT-Rich]

I think there has to be a balance. This guy salvaged the Wydah off cape cod and apparently he did a decent job of it. But, I suspect if wasn't compelled to do it the right way he would have stripped the wreck and anything that wasn't of commercial value would have been sucked up his dredge. The value of artifacts from a historic wreck comes from saying "this came off such and such ship...." To make those statements he has to be able to prove the provenance of the wreck and follow local laws about the recovery of historic artifacts.

I've heard that a lot of the US Great Lake wrecks were picked clean in the early years of diving and people know follow a look but don't touch policy that is aimed at maintaining the wrecks for future generations and historical study. Ocean wrecks and scattered debris like bottles and china get degraded over time as the hull rots and corrodes. Not to mention how many of these wrecks lay in waters that are accessible to divers, and are also subject to the ravages of storm and tide. Pulling artifacts off these relatively modern wrecks is much less problematic because the are going to be scattered and buried over time.

 

[Aquanomad]

I agree with that. I know taking from the ocean is generally a touchy topic to start with. But he did the due diligence. He put his butt on the line. And he made it happen. I believe he should be entitled to do as he pleases as long as he is within the law and if archeologists want it documented properly they should put up the cash and hire him as the PI. Unfortunately with all the beuracracy it takes any non private agency ages to get it together. Im just floored that this guy is 70! and still doin it up. As a 33 yr old diver its highly motivational.