Black Swan saga

You may be aware of the current debate regarding underwater pillaging of historic wreck sites, especially with regard to recent "Black Swan" site.

The firm involved, Odyssey, have issued a long (and vague) press statement which you access via their website: http://www.shipwreck.net/

Mark Horton, writing in Britarch, neatly summarises the issues:

"I must admit I have been somewhat disappointed by the Britarch discussion (which sometimes verges on the banal), on what potentially is the biggest removal to the USA of our cultural heritage that has ever taken place. Basically:

a) it seems that the best candidate is the Merchant Royal, a British merchantman, carrying Spanish government bullion under contract. By all accounts, while in international waters (and we only have Odyssey's word for this - surely someone was monitoring their activities (e.g. MCA/Receiver of Wreck?)) it seems be be very close to the 12 mile limit.

b) If our government had signed up to the UN convention for the protection of underwater heritage, then it would have undertaken to outlaw treasure hunting not only in territorial waters, but also in waters where we claim an economic interest - this includes the continental shelf, where we clearly have already legislation claiming jurisitiction over natural resources such as gas and oil, or 200 miles for fisheries.

c) I suspect that to sign the UN convention, we would need primary legislation - but the opportunity is there with the Marine Bill to do exactly this. d) Unless this happens, the western approaches is going to become treasure hunters alley, as there is many other ships down there, perhaps also with equally large hauls on board. For those who don't know, this isn't a harmless activity, but these large ships basically hover up the sea bed, sort out the loot, and throw the rest back overboard. Whatever our views on the rights and wrongs of treasure hunting, this is I am sure something that none of us would condone.

e) one suspects that the government's reluctance to sign the convention is because of HMS Sussex, (of course the deal would be illegal under the convention), and the potential benefit the MoD hopes to get from Odysseys's next little venture."