CAPE COD, Massachusetts (24 Oct 2008) — The Steamship Portland went down off the New England coast during a terrible storm back in November 1898. It became known as the Titanic of New England. Now, over a century later, divers have reached the wreck for the very first time. "When we came down on the wreck, this was one of the first things we saw," said Bob Foster, pointing out dinner plates in underwater video taken by his dive team. "It was a thrill just to be there," Foster described. "We had been working for two years just to get to that point." Foster recently led a team of divers to the wreck of the Portland, the first divers ever to accomplish that. At a depth of almost 500 feet, the divers could only survey the wreck for 15 minutes before returning to the surface. They plan to resume their dives in the spring. "It's really a funny feeling to come down on this wreck for the first time and see all these real personal artifacts," Foster said. "It really brings it home just how many people were lost on this ship." The Steamship Portland sank north of Stellwagen Bank in what is now Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary holds the wreck in trust. No sunken artifacts can be removed, maintaining what amounts to an underwater museum. "New England's stormy weather has resulted in hundreds of shipwrecks," said Matt Lawrence, a maritime archaeologist with the sanctuary. The weekend of October 25, the Cape Cod Maritime Museum is hosting a two day event on marine archaeology. The museum is located at 135 South Street in Hyannis (508-775-1723). Fully protected from scuba looters, the wreck of the Portland steamship in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary is now an underwater museum, a submerged window into the past when steam engines powered passenger and cargo vessels in New England and around the world. | | 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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