Three divers in Sweden sentenced to prison for wreck plundering

[jborg]

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The men were stopped at sea by the Coast Guard - in a boat full of picked-up antiquities. Later, a large collection of maritime history items was also found at their homes. The district court sentenced them to a suspended sentence and community service for grave antiquities crime - now the Göta Court of Appeal is increasing the sentence to prison.

The coast guard encountered the men on a July day in 2020, when they were stopped in their boat off Öland with diving equipment to dry. When the authorities took a closer look at the cargo, several wooden objects were also discovered that were suspected to be antiquities, and later a large collection of naval historical objects, such as an iron cannon from the 17th century, was found at the homes of the three men.

The Kalmar district court ruled that the punishment for the serious antiquities crime was between three and twelve months in prison, but since they had previously been unpunished, the sentence was converted to a suspended sentence and community service. A fourth man was given a suspended sentence and daily fines. Now the Court of Appeal toughens the sentence and sentences three men to prison for 1 year and 4 months, 1 year and 2 months and 1 year respectively. The fourth man's sentence is fixed.

"There is no guiding ruling from the Supreme Court on the amount of punishment and penalty in the case of serious antiquities violations," says Court of Appeal counsel Christer Ganelind in a press release.

The penalty value has now been assessed based on the fact that violations of ancient monuments risk leading to damage to cultural heritage that cannot be repaired, the Court of Appeal further states.

The men, who are between 58 and 71 years old, have had a great interest in diving since the early 1980s. In the early 2000s, two of them became co-owners of a dive boat and they later also acquired advanced equipment, such as sonar and modern GPS navigation instruments, to be able to locate wrecks and remains below the surface.

The convicts have denied any crime and claimed that many of the objects were so-called loose finds, meaning that they had not been found in connection with any wreck or any collection of objects and that it was therefore not illegal to pick them up.

 

[Scared Silly]

The convicts have denied any crime and claimed that many of the objects were so-called loose finds, meaning that they had not been found in connection with any wreck or any collection of objects and that it was therefore not illegal to pick them up.

I suspect the problem was not that they picked them up but they kept them.

 

[happy-diver]

I suspect you can only stumble across a certain amount of historical maritime loose finds before you strike wreck

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I say that unless a wreck or a site has been previously identified and proper claims filed......or...if the wreck is within restricted waters.....then it should be "finders / keepers"...

 

[drohn]

Underwater Archaeology wise speaking, there is no such thing a "loose find". Impossible. Every artifact has its history and a context. Once you remove the item, you destroy the cultural heritage site. Forever. Which easikly is a reason to get prosecuted. Also, a wrecking is a process. Which can span hundereds of miles. Imagine, you are a ship in 1680. You realize that the lower decks are flooding. So you throw the cannons over board. Now, random cannons lie on the sea bed. While you pump out the water. Then you realize that you need to throw your spare anchors over board. Now some random anchors lie on the sea bed. Future generations will wonder why. After some dozend of miles, you decide to drop the cargo (last resort). And so on. Then you hit a reef. The floating parts of your ship float wherever they would, those who are heavy sink to the ground.

All of these parts are parts of the same wreck. It is not always like in the movies, where sailing ships just "go down". And stay there.

 

[Tadpole Frogfish]

I suspect the problem was not that they picked them up but they kept them.

Possession. Never something to run into especially involving heritage value. Nasty bits and pieces but super interesting.

I say that unless a wreck or a site has been previously identified and proper claims filed......or...if the wreck is within restricted waters.....then it should be "finders / keepers"...

Trespassing...or it belongs to the nation who issued the ship (seen with "HMS" or "USS") or a private owner/rental. I imagine every vessel has a manifest if others went plundering and is the responsibility of the boat issuer. It might be similar in looted art from German Uboats and other WWII paraphernalia in the form of art restitution. They ran into a lot of issues where the treasure sunk in no man's land and pirates piling up.