BOSTON, Massachusetts (5 Feb 2006) -- A defiant dive exploration, led by a former Coast Guardsman, created one of the most heated custody battles in recent maritime history. A sunken U.S. Lighthouse Service ship called the Lightship Nantucket (LV-117) lay hidden in 200 feet of water 50 miles south of Nantucket Island, Mass., for 64 years until an exploration team plundered the ship and ultimately desecrated a gravesite. Prior to the days of radar, long range navigation, or global positioning systems, ships relied on sight to steer their courses and avoid collisions. May 15, 1934, sight would not be enough. During a heavy bout of fog, the anchored 630-ton LV-117 was tragically sideswiped by the 45,324 ton Olympic, a British ocean liner and Titanic's sister ship. The lightship sank in minutes, taking four crewmembers down with her. Three other crewmembers died later from injuries and exposure. Ironically, the lightship was sideswiped by the ocean liner Washington four months before the fatal incident. The lifeboat, antennas and boat davits were sheared. No lives were lost. Eric Takakjian, a native of Fairhaven, Mass., is a former Coast Guardsman and avid wreck diver who took a notable interest in the shipwreck and spent years researching prior to launching a physical pursuit of the lightship. Takakjian and a team of experienced seamen aboard the Lady Francis set out Jan. 11, 1998 to search for the ship's location. Using side-scan sonar, the graph findings revealed the Lightship Nantucket's rail. Waiting for more diver-friendly conditions, Takakjian returned to the wreckage site in his 43-foot ship Quest with an exploration team July 18, 1998. Takakjian dove on the wreck more than a dozen times and removed the ship's binnacle, 1,200-pound signal bell, the helm, portholes, telegraph, and signal light. News of the discovery spread quickly as Takakjian presented lectures, pictures and artifacts at diving symposiums and scuba diving conventions held in New England. Members of the United States Coast Guard Lightship Sailors Association, an association dedicated to the service members aboard lightships and preservation of U.S. Coast Guard Lightship history, took notice of the Takakjian's discovery and notified the Coast Guard Historian's Office in Washington, D.C., Sept. 16, 2004. "A grave ship should be treated the same as any other grave, six feet deep or 200 feet deep, it makes no difference. We were all appalled by the divers' actions. I think only a true sailor can appreciate this," said Larry R. Ryan, president of the USCGLSA. It was soon revealed by the Historian's office that Takakjian was irrevocably denied permission to explore and dive on the Nantucket by the Coast Guard. Takakjian wrote a letter to the Office of the Chief Counsel for the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., March 5, 1999 requesting permission to dive on the shipwreck. The chief of the asset management division at Coast Guard Headquarters responded with an official memorandum June 18, 1999 and denied his request because the artifacts were considered federal property. Conclusion: Takakjian had not requested permission to dive on the Nantucket until after the fact. The historian contacted Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Northeast Region in September 2004. Takakjian's find and notoriety were soon subjected to a CGIS investigation. | | CYBER DIVER ALERT | Partners in crime: Grave robbers Leigh Bishop and Brad Sheard. Following the lead of dive industry-endorsed shipwreck looters Bishop and Sheard, scuba diving thieves around the world are destroying historically and culturally significant wrecks for bragging rights, coffee table displays and internet auction profits that amount to a fraction of the revenue shipwrecks can generate as fully protected underwater museums. FROM THE EDITORS OF CDNN Despite dive industry 'take pictures, leave only bubbles' green-wash, a small but strident and criminal group of industry-promoted scuba diving looters steal artifacts from shipwrecks under the guise of 'archaeological exploration', and aggressively compete for bragging rights, product endorsements and profits from the sales of stolen artifacts that are now on a par with those from smuggling humans and drugs. "We do not care about Leigh Bishop and Brad Sheard's personality problems, their crude hate sites, their chat room antics nor their criminal attempts to intimidate, harass and blackmail responsible, eco-friendly dive companies that support full protection of marine wildlife, shipwrecks and underwater war graves," said CDS President Evan T. Allard. "Such unscrupulous and criminal conduct is beneath contempt and serves only to substantiate accusations that Bishop and Sheard have committed crimes and will continue to do so unless authorities step in." "The vast majority of the global scuba diving community opposes shipwreck looting and underwater grave robbing," said CDS President Evan T. Allard. "Shipwrecks are part of our historical and cultural heritage. For scuba divers, shipwrecks are fascinating underwater museums that must be fully protected for our children, our grandchildren and all future generations of divers who will dive deeper and longer thanks to ongoing improvements in diving technology ," Allard added. "It is absolutely imperative that the global scuba diving community, archaeologists, coast guards, police and tax authorities act now to prevent Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, David Morton (of the Boston Sea Rovers) and other shipwreck looters from exploiting and destroying sunken ships for their personal coffee table displays, internet self-promotion schemes, commercial 'museum' profits and tax-evasion scams." If you have information pertaining to the theft and/or sale of wreck artifacts, or desecration of underwater grave sites by Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, organized crime gangs or anyone else, please contact CDNN immediately and your information will be passed along to appropriate authorities. REPORT SCUBA LOOTER |
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