Maritime Archaeology and Divers

[Charles,Oak Island]

There has been a lot of complaining about sports divers damaging shipwreck artifacts. But you know
there is not one college or University out there that offers any course in Maritime Archaeology by continuing education/correspondence course that the working person can take. And the Padi course if you can find it is not that informative. So when they start whining about divers and shipwrecks what can you expect.
So what do you guys think about it ??

[Lasivian]

You have treasure hunters saying "It's just a wreck, who cares?"

You have colleges saying "Don't touch it, it's important, you need a PhD just too look at it"

And you have the best of both worlds in the British saying "If you find anything significant we want it for a museum, and we'll pay you back"

It's a pity nobody in the US would believe that. We kind of have a poor track record when it comes to honoring our promises.

[Charles,Oak Island]

I agree.

[wreckdiver1715]

Well said! I wonder, is Bob Ballard an Aggie? It seems that he is one of the leaders of the charge against the sport divers and treasure hunters exploring and recovering artifacts off the ocean floor. Don?t get me wrong, I am all for preserving the past for all to see, and in a few instances it may be the better part of valor to bring in the academic types to assist in the documentation and recovery. But let?s face it, the academic world is not going to put provisions on our boats or fuel in our tanks. Treasure hunters/divers are the ones making the investment, and the last time I checked we are a capitalist society and that does not necessarily make the academic and treasure hunting worlds mutually exclusive.

[oldfart]

The academics interest is in furthering his/her career by books, lectures, documentaries etc so in the interest of future employment he needs to exclude the amateur and allow sites to remain fallow until he is ready for them.
When the Mary Rose was being investigated I contacted Ms Rule about the wreck of the first steamship ever built and asked if she would be interested in investigating it.
It appeared it was not old enough, yet I thought it a historic wreck if ever there was one.
Since then I have very diminished regard for the proffessionals.

[Charles,Oak Island]

I would like to help advance the knowledge of historical shipwrecks. But I would be hard pressed to do it at the lose of my discovery especially after putting in years of research and search.

[wreckdiver1715]

I too would not give up the rights to a significant or insignificant find for that matter. Once I have established legal rights to a wreck, then and only then would I even consider if I may think about bringing in an archaeologist to serve in an advisory capacity.
As my daughter is in her first year of collage, I am encouraging her to consider this course of education. We will have to wait and see how that pans out.

Q

[Charles,Oak Island]

Tell her to ECU in Greenville NC with Gordon Watts, not Tex A&M.