Treasure Hunting Underwater
The "good old days" of underwater treasure hunting are gone
for ever and that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Shipwrecks and Salvage
Underwater salvage has always been a tricky business, the only
big problems the salvors of old faced were the limits
imposed by the equipment of the time. Now the game has
changed, the barrier is no longer technology but litigation.
Spain has tried to lay claim to all of its vessels lost at sea
through out history, causing numerous headaches for the
Fisher family of Florida,
who have spent countless millions, and over 20 years,
expertly salvaging the wrecks of the
Spanish galleons Atocha and Santa Margarita as well as
the wrecks of the
1715 Plate Fleet.
"Preservation in situ" has become the catch phrase of
underwater archaeologists the world over, to say that those
same archaeologists frown upon private sector involvement in
historic ship salvage would be an understatement.
In short, if you locate a historic shipwreck carrying a
valuable cargo, you could find that there are going to be dozens of
organisations and individuals at your door who will do
anything and everything in their power to make your position
as difficult as possible and try to sabotage your efforts at
every step. Not to mention all the potential competitors
that will come out of the wood work.
Training and Education are the Key to Success
The key to success is not to give anyone a reason to shut you
down. Be sure to obey the law at every step.
Educate yourself, take all the courses in marine archaeology
you can,
here is a good place to start. Aim to exceed reporting,
recording and conservation standards at every opportunity,
it is not enough be as good as the archaeologists, you have
be better.
If you don't have the required skills for particular jobs,
find people who do. This would usually be in areas like
artefact conservation. The conservation and preservation of
finds is an exacting science and is not something you can
learn at night school. Prolonged submersion in salt water
causes all kinds of problems for most metals and materials
found on a wreck site and you need someone to be tackling
these problems at the earliest possible opportunity, that
would mean employing a conservator as a member of your team
(very expensive), or finding and securing the services of a
subcontractor with suitable facilities and experience.
Ensure the details of your work and material you recover are
published widely, keeping the "professionals," and indeed
anyone with even a passing interest in what you are doing
informed is an excellent public relations opportunity that
is sure to pay dividends in the long term.
Archaeology seems to be in real crisis when it comes to
publishing the results of excavations. I worked on an
excavation in 1992 or 1993 and by all accounts it is still,
13 or 14 years later (as of the time of writing, late
November 2006), not even close to being published. Get your
reports out in a timely fashion and you will be beating the
"professionals" at their own game.
Know the rules, regulations and laws of country or area you
are working in back to front and inside out.
Related Pages
|
