It appears two lowlifes have got their comeuppance, but bearing in mind the shots of a Dutch salvage company salvaging RN warships for scrap, and the disappearance of the ones in the Far East as well, you get the feeling that the bigger the company, the less they UK PLC wants to get involved in expensive court cases, where as a couple like this are fair game… something wrong in that approach.
http://news.sky.com/story/two-charged-over-items-taken-from-protected-wwi-wreck-10748690
By: ericmunk - 31st January 2017 at 15:01
Looking forward to that!
By: Arabella-Cox - 31st January 2017 at 14:41
We covered the Java recoveries in Britain at War and in the next issue (March) we have a fascinating letter from a Visiting Research Fellow from a leading university who specialises in these areas of maritime law etc.
By: TonyT - 31st January 2017 at 13:08
They are still landing it in the Country however, it is a Dutch Company doing it and it is known it is a war grave! and as the Daily Fail article in post 10 below states
The wreckage was found in international waters but because of rules concerning sovereign warships the Government must consent to recovery plans.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3164584/Race-save-priceless-artefacts-sunken-HMS-Victory-looters-target-two-nearest-wrecks-English-Channel.html#ixzz4XLRuDCVK
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As you cannot really put it back you would think the UK would take them through the EU courts to make sure they do not gain financially from their desecration, thus sending out a clear message to others.
I watched the programme on the first Victory recovery on Discovery, and they worked with the MOD and when a skull was discovered they treated it with respect and ceased operations until as such time the MOD had been advised and a plan to move forward was put in place by the MOD.
By: ericmunk - 31st January 2017 at 13:05
I agree, but for a Government to kick up a fuss about it is happening to Dutch vessels in the Far East, while ignoring the blatantly obvious occurring in their own Country is very narrow minded.
The company in question is not operating ‘in their own country’ but in international waters. That is a big legal difference.
BTW: I applaud any government kicking up a fuss about violation of war graves in any circumstances, anywhere. Even more so when it acts on it.
By: AlanR - 31st January 2017 at 12:54
, you get the feeling that the bigger the company, the less they UK PLC wants to get involved in expensive court cases, where as a couple like this are fair game… something wrong in that approach.
http://news.sky.com/story/two-charged-over-items-taken-from-protected-wwi-wreck-10748690
Isn’t it always the same, it’s easier going for the soft targets. Rather like the Inland Revenue hounding people for a couple of hundred pounds they owe, and letting the big multinationals get away with millions.
By: scotavia - 31st January 2017 at 12:36
Good detective work for the Pipeline article, the Dutch salvage company must be very confident to be involved to operate so openly.They are landing in daylight and have liased with a local museum allowing items to be dispalyed. The word brazen seems correct. I suspect they know a lot about the odds of being prosecuted. Some profits are driving this operation which makes the risks worth while to them.
By: TonyT - 31st January 2017 at 11:31
I agree, but for a Government to kick up a fuss about it happening to Dutch vessels in the Far East, while ignoring the blatantly obvious occurring in their own Country is very narrow minded. And the fact our Country has not done anything about it is even worse!
..
By: CeBro - 31st January 2017 at 07:14
Steady now, If people with questionable motivations have a certain nationality, that doesn’t mean the whole country is guilty.
By: Creaking Door - 31st January 2017 at 00:13
This is outrageous; I can understand the difficulty of protecting wrecks in the Far East but to have wrecks from the Battle-of-Jutland plundered in the North Sea is totally unacceptable!
That propeller from HMS Indefatigable, if moved at all, should have been in a national museum collection, not melted-down for scrap by some maritime pikeys! It is unbelievable that it could survive in such amazing condition until virtually one hundred years after HMS Indefatigable was lost, and then be stolen for a few quid as scrap.
By: TonyT - 30th January 2017 at 14:48
More on those already taken
http://www.livescience.com/56965-wwii-shipwrecks-vanish-after-illegal-plundering.html
Dutch kicking up a stink over those above while doing it themselves
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January 30, 2017 at 2:45 pm