Reward offered for bell stolen from City of Detroit shipwreck

[wreckdiver1715]

OK! guys, someone is giving us shipwreck divers a bad name.

DETROIT - The bell from the City of Detroit shipwreck has been stolen, and officials want to know who is responsible.
The Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that it is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for taking the ship's bell from the bottom of Lake Huron.
Divers who visited the shipwreck site July 30 reported that the bell was missing.
Built in 1866, the City of Detroit hauled mostly flour and wheat from Wisconsin to Ontario for seven years. In December 1873, a late-season storm sunk the wooden steamship near Saginaw Bay.
The shipwreck was discovered in June 1999, and it has become a popular recreational dive site.
Taking artifacts from the state's bottomlands without a permit is a crime punishable by up to one year in prison and up to $2,000 in fines.
Anyone with information about the bell can call the DNR at (800) 292-7800 or (989) 684-9141

 

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[Rowdy]

Let me get this straight, they want to pay a $500 reward, so they can fine someone $2000?!?!? Can I get a piece of that action?

 

[FISHEYE]

If the DNR was really smart they would have put the bell in a museum for all the public to see and left a plastic or cheap metal replica on the wreck for pirates to steal that could be replaced cheaply.

 

[Heavy Chevy]

Hi gang,

While i realize that stealing is wrong, how does the bell sitting on the bottom of the lake do anyone any good ? The DNR should have put it in a museum for everyone to see.

I agree with Fisheye on this....

Mike in SC

 

[BADDOG]

I grew up in Detroit and I could probably show them who took the bell from the Taco Bell.
It used to be a weekend ritual. They no longer have those bells, that was when tacos were 20 cents.

Good Luck and HH

Baddog

 

[tom yerian]

Iam really heart broken of the dnr, and their loss. I really do applaud the divers who took it. That is what all divers should do.If it was so important, dumb asses should have put a replica on it. To the divers who took the bell;I COMMEND YOU!...CAPT. TOM

 

[ToyMan]

Probably in some Archie's PRIVATE collection!

 

[pcolaboy]

Probably in some Archie's PRIVATE collection!

NO DOUBT!!!!

 

[lucky1777]

Lets see, they let the public dive this undisturbed shipwreck. Someone steals a piece of PUBLIC property and you people congratulate him. Wow, I sure am glad I don't dive, because that gas has to be effecting some of your brains. Its no different than a cannon on a battlefield. Maybe we should steal all of them and put them in our houses so no one else can enjoy looking at them.

 

[ScubaFinder]

And we wonder why treasure hunters get a bad wrap. Saluting these thieves in public doesn't do us any good either. What is so hard about following the laws....there has been much talk about this recently and it's annoying. Are their scoundrels in archaeology and government, of course. Just like their are scoundrels in treasure hunting. If we all keep looking at the other side based on the lowest common denominator, we will never accomplish anything. I know some damn good archaeologists, and I know some very honorable treasure hunters. I also know some guys who think raping the wrecks and selling artifacts on the black market is the right course of action...and yeah, I know some archaeologists who have private collections that rival any museum. There are two sides to every story.

If we could get the reasonable archaeologists to team up with the reputable treasure hunters, we could properly document and preserve 100 times more than the state is capable of by itself. Instead, we have a bunch of treasure hunters who can't follow the rules, adding fuel to the already over-zealous archaeologists. How does this help either side?

 

[RELICDUDE07]

 

[ScubaFinder]

Great video Relic, I wonder if the archaeologists will watch it? I know a few who will, and would agree with the sentiment behind it.

 

[Lobster Pirate]

I heard a rumor that the Spanish government had a ship working with divers in the water at that location.

LP

 

[Boobydoo]

Idiots who applaud and commend theives who steal treasure, encouraging more people to steal, should be banned from Treasurenet. We don't need these kind as members here.

 

[G.I.B.]

Why are we pointing the finger at treasure hunters?

I had scuba gear long before I ever owned a metal detector.

The theft could have easily have been some college prank (like so many zillion pranks in the past) or a couple of local thieves stealing it for the scrap metal value.

I read the article and it didn't say how deep this was, or how it was removed. Could you walk it back?


http://michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10371_10402-149308--,00.html

 

[ScubaFinder]

Since we don't know who took it, it's kinda hard to point fingers. My point was that the archaeologists who are dead set against amateurs like us recovering anything of historical value (no matter how well we do it) will use this as another reason to keep us off of sites in the future. Never mind the overall point I was trying to convey, which was "don't applaud anyone for stealing anything". We aren't pointing fingers at ourselves, merely pointing out that when the finger gets pointed, it will undoubtably be in our direction.

 

[CaribbeanDiver]

Who on earth said a treasure hunter stole this??

So a scuba diver who wants a trinket is now a treasure hunter? We have no idea who this person is and I think a lot of the posts here do more damage than good to us real treasure hunters.

The debate over what should and should not be taken is certainly a legitimate concern. Leaving items to rot, or for gods sake a bell that some dishonest diver will certainly take at some point is just stupid. If items would not degrade, then we could have a debate over what should stay for now, as long as their was a plan, and if we could guarantee no diver would take a bell, then sure, it could be left for all to enjoy, but neither is a reality in todays world.

The stand on artifacts of todays governments in many cases is no less than criminal. They have destroyed many collections that have made it to land, and leave others to turn to black sludge. They also crush the American Spirit by not working with its honest citizens. Its pretty sad that I have to leave the US to persue the American dream.... And by the way I love my country very, very much.

And I agree with many posters, there may be times when we need to use our intelligence to make good decisions contrary to bad laws but do not ever post anything in favor of theft, and if you do it purely for profit or at the expense of important historical information, then you are a theif.

Just my 8 reales......