ST. NAZAIRE, France (20 June 2006) -- The French Government's decision to offer new legal protection to the final resting place of over 3,000 British servicemen who died when the HMT LANCASTRIA was sunk in World War Two has today been welcomed by Veterans Minister Tom Watson. The requisitioned Cunard liner was lending support to the war effort, helping to rescue members of the British Expeditionary Force from France, when she was attacked by enemy aircraft off St. Nazaire on 17 June 1940. At the time she was carrying several thousand troops, RAF personnel and civilian refugees, who were being evacuated from France. The ship sank rapidly with heavy loss of life. So grievous was the disaster that news of the LANCASTRIA's sinking was initially suppressed by the wartime Cabinet, fearful of the effect on the nation's morale. Mr Watson said: "The sinking of the HMT LANCASTRIA was a national tragedy which resulted in thousands of men, women and children losing their lives. To recognise this we have been working closely with the French Government to establish new legal protections for the final resting place of these brave souls. "Survivors, relatives and members of the Lancastria Association brought to our attention that diving on the wreck was proving intrusive and potentially damaging. I would like to thank them for this. However, as she lies in French territorial waters we had no legal powers available to us to protect the wreck. "We immediately discussed our concerns with the French authorities and asked for their help preventing this. I am delighted they have responded so positively and that divers are no longer allowed to come in contact with the wreck. This will do much to preserve the sanctity of the ship's remains and illustrates the importance both Governments attach to the protection of war graves, such as the HMT LANCASTRIA." Personnel who served on the HMT LANCASTRIA will be honoured, among others, when the first annual Veterans Day is held on 27 June. Due to looting by a tiny fraction of divers who steal artifacts for bragging rights and tax-free profits from anonymous internet auction sales, all scuba diving has been banned at the site of the HMT Lancastria. SOURCE - UK Ministry of Defence | | 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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