Posted by MHK on April 16, 2001 at 13:38:42:
In Reply to: Helium ban in the UK! Are we next? posted by AADIVER on April 13, 2001 at 22:24:50:
This is another stupid beauratic knee jerk reaction that doesn't solve anything and may inure to the danger of a expedition...
If we have learned anything from history it's that you can't ( and shouldn't ) prevent exploration nor can you kill the spirit of an explorer..
While I sympathize with surviving family members it has always bugged me that certain ships can get explored while other's can't..
Why is the Andrea Doria explored ad nauseam and the Edmund Fitzgerald considered sacreligious and off limits, due to the concerns for the surviving family memebers?????
If the government really wants to get serious about rape and pilage they should simply do as the Great Lakes do, in other words no salvaging... The Great Lakes does a great job of enforcing the salvaging and while I'm somewhere in the middle on the salvaging issue I can see it from both points of view..
The wreck diver in me loves the fact that when we do Lake Superior we explore wrecks that went down in the early to mid 1800's and as we make our way through the galley you can open up the cuppoards and still see cups and saucers in the cabinets. You go through the sleeping quaters and can see artifacts that have been there for 150+ years.. To me that makes these wrecks a time capsule..
By the same token I can see the point of view that suggets that the wreck has been there for 150+ years and won't it be more beneficial and educational to salvage some of this stuff and show it at shows and museums..
I lean a bit towards the *no take* side of the aisle but to speak to the issue at hand the proposed solution solves nothing and will only encourage more of the deep air cowboys..
Remember the UK is responsible for Rob Palmer and he trained many many of those guys...
Later