VICTORIA, Australia (14 June 2007) -- The SS Alert, the ill-fated cargo ship that met its demise more than 100 years ago off the Victorian coast, will be preserved and protected for evermore in its watery grave. Yesterday, news reports revealed that after nearly two years of painstaking work combing the ocean floor, a group of volunteer marine archaeologists had found the Alert, sitting beneath 80 metres of water in Bass Strait off Cape Schanck. Now, the Victorian Government has moved to preserve the Alert permanently, affording it the highest level of heritage protection. Disturbing, damaging or removing items from historic shipwrecks, such as the Alert, can attract a prison sentence or fines of up to $10,000 for a person, and $50,000 for a company. Planning Minister Justin Madden said the Alert was an important part of Victoria's extensive sea history. "I would like to congratulate the Southern Ocean Exploration team, a committed group of volunteers, for this marvellous discovery, which is yet another wonderful contribution to our maritime heritage," he said. The SS Alert sank the night of December 28, 1893, after being caught in a ferocious storm. The ship was ill-equipped for the open water (it had been built for placid Scottish lochs) and sank without a trace. Fifteen people went down with the ship, and only the Alert's cook, Robert Ponting, survived, by clinging to a piece of cabin door for more than 16 hours. Until this month, the exact location of the SS Alert was not known, until Southern Ocean Exploration, led by Mark Ryan, discovered it, still largely intact. The exact location of the wreck has been passed on to Heritage Victoria, but it will not be released publicly. At 80 metres below the surface, it is too deep for most divers to reach anyway. The Alert is officially in Commonwealth waters. Planning Minister Justin Madden said Heritage Victoria would write to the Federal Government to recommend it be made off limits to anyone without a heritage permit. SOURCE - The Age | | Liars and looters 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 wrecks for bragging rights, coffee table displays and internet auction profits worth millions but a fraction of the revenue shipwrecks can generate year after year as fully protected underwater museums. FROM THE EDITORS OF CDNN Despite dive industry 'take pictures, leave only bubbles' green-wash, a small but strident 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 hate-mongering web sites, their chat room shenanigans nor their crude attempts to 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 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 fact is that the vast majority of the global scuba diving community opposes shipwreck looting and underwater grave robbing, and with good reason," Allard added. "For scuba divers, every shipwreck is an underwater museum to 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 said. CYBER DIVER ALERT | 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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