16th July 2009, 10:55 PM
Quote.....
This Facebook group exists to encourage the British Government to pledge that it will never again sign profit sharing deals with US-based Odyssey Marine Exploration and that it will always oppose mercenary profit-led salvage of historic marine archaeology sites.
The background:
(***UPDATE: this has now been checked and corrobated by archaeology experts in the UK***)
Someone in the British Government must have seen dollar signs flash before their eyes when they were approached by the foreign salvage company.
"You can share the spoils," said the salvage company, "Just sign on the dotted line and everything will be OK."
Sure enough, the British Government casually agreed a profit sharing arrangement with Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2002.
Whoever it was in the British Government - we're told it was a penpusher at the Ministry of Defence - they were signing away up to 80% of the wealth on board HMS Sussex, a British-owned wreck dating from 1694 which is thought to carry up to 10 tons of gold. All that without the standard supervision from UK marine archaeologists.
It caused a barrage of protests from British MPs, 60 of whom signed an early day motion 'condemning the ransacking of shipwrecks under the aegis of archeaological exploration'.
Then UK archaeological groups became involved, heavily criticising the British Government for failing to observe its own protocols and ensure that all archeaological work is conducted according to UNESCO principles and commissioned through English Heritage as the government?s advisor on the historic environment.
Archaeologists again criticised the government in March 2009 over talks with Odyssey Marine Exploration about another treasure wreck in the English Channel. This time, UNESCO also weighed into the debate. (See links below).
Thankfully, the Spanish Government saw sense in regard to this and other wreck sites and is successfully pursuing a case against Odyssey Marine Exploration through the US courts in Summer 2009 in an effort to prevent the company claiming treasure from shipwrecks thought to be within Spanish Government jurisdiction. The case continues.
This Facebook group exists to encourage the British Government to pledge that it will never again sign profit sharing deals with US-based Odyssey Marine Exploration and that it will always oppose mercenary profit-led salvage of historic marine archaeology sites.
The background:
(***UPDATE: this has now been checked and corrobated by archaeology experts in the UK***)
Someone in the British Government must have seen dollar signs flash before their eyes when they were approached by the foreign salvage company.
"You can share the spoils," said the salvage company, "Just sign on the dotted line and everything will be OK."
Sure enough, the British Government casually agreed a profit sharing arrangement with Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2002.
Whoever it was in the British Government - we're told it was a penpusher at the Ministry of Defence - they were signing away up to 80% of the wealth on board HMS Sussex, a British-owned wreck dating from 1694 which is thought to carry up to 10 tons of gold. All that without the standard supervision from UK marine archaeologists.
It caused a barrage of protests from British MPs, 60 of whom signed an early day motion 'condemning the ransacking of shipwrecks under the aegis of archeaological exploration'.
Then UK archaeological groups became involved, heavily criticising the British Government for failing to observe its own protocols and ensure that all archeaological work is conducted according to UNESCO principles and commissioned through English Heritage as the government?s advisor on the historic environment.
Archaeologists again criticised the government in March 2009 over talks with Odyssey Marine Exploration about another treasure wreck in the English Channel. This time, UNESCO also weighed into the debate. (See links below).
Thankfully, the Spanish Government saw sense in regard to this and other wreck sites and is successfully pursuing a case against Odyssey Marine Exploration through the US courts in Summer 2009 in an effort to prevent the company claiming treasure from shipwrecks thought to be within Spanish Government jurisdiction. The case continues.