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This is also graverobbing, and very not cool. Most wrecks will have sailors/soldiers/merchantmen entombed. Parent comment is 100% correct, unfortunately this d

by jprd 2y ago

This is also graverobbing, and very not cool. Most wrecks will have sailors/soldiers/merchantmen entombed. Parent comment is 100% correct, unfortunately this doesn't stop people from continuing to do it to this day.

tadfisher 2y ago
There is nothing left of those remains. The flesh was gone between a few days to a year or so depending on the water temperature. Microorganisms feed on the collagen binding the inorganic matrix, reducing the bones to dust within 10 years at the most.
- AlgorithmicTime 2y ago
  [dead]
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  This is true of most remains, but someone still typically gets a bit peeved if you dig up the cemetery. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/images-reveal-three-more-japanese-wwii-shipwrecks-torn-apart-for-scrap https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/images-reveal-... > Naval shipwrecks are granted sovereign immunity under international law and remain the property of their nations, in this case Japan. These protections makes it illegal to destroy them without permission from Tokyo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Protection_of_the_Underwater_Cultural_Heritage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Protection_o...
rjsw 2y ago
The German ships sunk in Scapa Flow [1] are a good source of steel as they are not war graves. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_at_Scapa_Flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_...
southernplaces7 2y ago
By your logic, any random long-urbanized space on Earth should remain untouched because at some point it was the site of people's (often violent) deaths. These ships weren't memorial vessels, they were just ships doing work and there's nothing wrong with salvaging them. Cemeteries are a different story. They represent places where people specifically chose to bury their dead for the sake of memorializing them.

by jprd 2y ago

tadfisher 2y ago

There is nothing left of those remains. The flesh was gone between a few days to a year or so depending on the water temperature. Microorganisms feed on the collagen binding the inorganic matrix, reducing the bones to dust within 10 years at the most.

AlgorithmicTime 2y ago
[dead]
ceejayoz 2y ago
This is true of most remains, but someone still typically gets a bit peeved if you dig up the cemetery. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/images-reveal-three-more-japanese-wwii-shipwrecks-torn-apart-for-scrap https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/images-reveal-... > Naval shipwrecks are granted sovereign immunity under international law and remain the property of their nations, in this case Japan. These protections makes it illegal to destroy them without permission from Tokyo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Protection_of_the_Underwater_Cultural_Heritage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Protection_o...

rjsw 2y ago

The German ships sunk in Scapa Flow [1] are a good source of steel as they are not war graves. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_at_Scapa_Flow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_...

southernplaces7 2y ago

By your logic, any random long-urbanized space on Earth should remain untouched because at some point it was the site of people's (often violent) deaths. These ships weren't memorial vessels, they were just ships doing work and there's nothing wrong with salvaging them. Cemeteries are a different story. They represent places where people specifically chose to bury their dead for the sake of memorializing them.