Only a few weeks after looters were discovered plundering the USS New York, dive instructors in Malta are complaining that the shipwrecks off their coast have been systematically looted for the past 6 years. They claim the wreck’s looters range from individual divers who occasionally help themselves to a random souvenir to gaggles of organized divers determined to remove all the artifacts within the wrecks. Recently, after receiving tips, local officials started investigating some of the most notorious technical divers on these Mediterranean islands – the only ones capable of diving some of the deeper wrecks and plundering them – and their discoveries are expected to lead to the first-ever arraignments of underwater criminal rings.
Considering the oceans are the world’s largest museum, it’s probably a good idea to crack down on looting. On the other hand, I’m sure the looters are crying foul: after all, what good are beautiful treasures, if they’re lying on the ocean floor?
1. I was watching a TV program about the sister-ships of the Titanic, the Olympic and Britannic, during WW2. Interestingly, a Brit owns the wreck of the Britannic and intends on placing remotely operated cameras throughout the vessel so people can enjoy the artifacts from their Internet connection.
If I were a looter, I'd be inspired to bring the artifacts up because no one can even see them underwater. While respecting the dead is important, who but tech divers and sub operators can enjoy these "underwater museums" if they're in 300 feet of water?
Posted at 2:29PM on Sep 14th 2005 by Eric Brodeur