The archaeological duty of care: the legal, professional, and cultural struggle over salvaging historic shipwrecks

Albany Law Review, Fall, 2001 by Christopher R. Bryant

Sea Hunt, Inc., 221 F.3d at 647 n.2.

(44) See Koerner, supra note 2, at 50 (stating that the treasure recovered from another Spanish galleon, El Salvador, is now valued at approximately $124 million).

(45) See id. (noting Sea Hunt's suspicion that Spain will salvage the vessel itself despite the Spanish government's claim to the contrary).

(46) See infra Part I.C.2 (discussing the deterioration of shipwrecks). But see DONALD SHOMETTE, THE HUNT FOR HMS DEBRAAK: LEGEND AND LEGACY 221 (1993) (describing the loss of human remains aboard the DeBraak when it was salvaged).

(47) See Cottrell, supra note 2, at 667 (acknowledging the educational and cultural value of shipwrecks); see also infra Part I.B (analyzing the monetary value of shipwrecks). But see Nafziger, supra note 9, at 311 (describing a television broadcast of the first Titanic artifacts being brought to the surface as nothing more than a "ghoulish publicity stunt"); Timpany, supra note 40, at 99 n.204, 102 (stating that the main body of the Titanic should be left alone as a memorial to the dead because "`[y]ou don't go poking around in someone's grave'" (quoting a survivor of the Titanic)).

(48) Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-298, 102 Stat. 432 (1988) (codified at 43 U.S.C. [subsection] 2101-2106 (1994)). The ASA vests title to certain abandoned shipwrecks in the United States and then transfers it to the state where the wreck is located. See 43 U.S.C. [section] 2105(a), (c). Furthermore, the ASA makes inapplicable the laws of finds and salvage to such wrecks. See 43 U.S.C. [section] 2106.

(49) 43 U.S.C. [section] 2101.

   The Congress finds that--(a) States have the responsibility for management
   of a broad range of living and nonliving resources in State waters and
   submerged lands; and (b) included in the range of resources are certain
   abandoned shipwrecks, which have been deserted and to which the owner has
   relinquished ownership rights with no retention.

Id. (emphasis added).

(50) See H.R. Rep. No. 100-514(I), at 2 (1988), reprinted in 1988 U.S.C.C.A.N. 365, 366 (asserting that five to ten percent of an estimated 50,000 shipwrecks resting in state waters have "historical significance"); see also Zych v. Unidentified, Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel, Believed to be the "Seabird," 941 F.2d 525, 529 (7th Cir. 1991) (discussing the legislative history of the ASA--specifically, the concerns of its sponsor Senator Bill Bradley, regarding the "historical value of shipwrecks"). The ASA defines "shipwreck" as "a vessel or wreck, its cargo, and other contents." 43 U.S.C. [section] 2102(d).

(51) See Cottrell, supra note 2, at 667 (referring to shipwrecks as resources that should not be jeopardized). Webster's defines "resources" as "available means (as of a country or business)[;] computable wealth (as in money, property, products)[; or] immediate and possible sources of revenue." WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 1934 (1993).

(52) UNCLOS III, supra note 2, art. 303(1), 21 I.L.M. at 1326.