Posted by Glendora Divers on March 16, 2005 at 12:09:21:
In Reply to: Re: Travelling exhibit...(NOT) posted by Kendall Raine on March 16, 2005 at 10:06:50:
I was at a dive club meeting a couple a years ago where a presentation was made by a wreck diving club in LA. The two of them were so proud of their finds and the way they recovered them. They bragged how for every 100 pounds of brass and stuff they displayed in public there were another 1000 pounds of stuff they would not allow a museum to display because they felt it would be stolen by the museum. I remeber them saying they found and claimed it and therefore they can't be told what to do with it. They said that the majority of what they found is at their houses and will never be displayed in public. I think that is a rather selfish way to preserve and provide for the education of wrecks to the masses. I never liked wreck diving clubs from that day on. Too much ego is involved to make it a legitimate way to preserve and educate others. I think if you find something of significant historical value, you should retrieve it, and donate it to a not for profit museum for them to put on display. Meanwhile the diver who retrieved it can I suppose take a tax deduction for the costs in retrieving it. How does that sound to you?