Titanic will be gone by 2028
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hobnob53 — 16 years ago(October 15, 2009 10:48 AM)
Basically I think we're pretty much in agreement. Grabbing stuff from wrecks purely for personal gain is an unworthy practice. The salvagers' reasoning would say that (a) they had to recover their expenses (but then why do it at all, since profit remains a principle, if not sole, motive, and they certainly don't stop making profits after recouping their costs?), and (b) that but for their efforts these things would remain hidden from the world.
Yet even here, it's not entirely a good/bad issue. Does it serve a purpose for items of genuine historical interest to remain hidden from sight and left to disintegrate in the deep ocean? As I said, I wish there was an easy answer applicable to all situations, balancing legitimate archeological and historical concerns with proper respect for the sites and the lives lost.
Maybe it's a case of simply "knowing" when something's being done that falls outside the bounds of propriety or legitimacy, vs. research and salvage that's being done for reasons of historical preservation and with the requisite respect for the wreck and its dead. An imperfect method, I grant you, but it might be all we can rely on common sense and a sense of decency and responsibility.