The last I heard, Dr. Judith Bense was the chairman of the Florida Historical Commission. If you're looking for getting permitted for exploration of a discovered wreck, you pretty much want to avoid her like the plague. In many of my posts, she is the one that I refer to when I say that state archies would rather it disentegrate than let a novice recover an item.
I think Dr. Roger Smith is still the leading Marine Archaeologist for the State of Florida, but again I could be wrong.
Archaeological Research/Office of the Bureau Chief
Ryan Wheeler, Ph.D., Chief and State Archaeologist [email protected]
Phone: 245-6444 - Fax: 245-6452
Underwater Archaeology Program
Roger Smith, Archaeology Supervisor [email protected]
thanks guys. it sad that they all belive no one is capable of recovery .and many artifacts will be lost . but then they are supposed to have atifacts from the last 40 yaers squirreled away in the capitol building doing no one any good .not on display for tourist or any one else
I don't think going over Ryan Wheeler's head is the way to do it. Another salvage company just tried that recently and did not meet with very good results. It just pissed a lot of people off, and ultimately, any new lease applications will probably end up on Dr. Wheeler's desk anyway.
If your wreck is in the Keys, you should first try diplomatically approaching the appropriate people with NOAA or the FKNMS