HMHS Britannic

[Kath]

"Titanic's sister ship to become divers' paradise."

Today's TELEGRAPH.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../20/nship20.xml

Kath.

[ian turner]

Wonder how that fits in with it being (presumably) a war grave?

I assume it can be viewed but not enetered/interfered with?

Ian

[micmic74]

Wonder how that fits in with it being (presumably) a war grave?

I assume it can be viewed but not enetered/interfered with?

Ian

The Britannic IS a British war grave. All the diving expeditions that took place since 1995 were strictly non-invasive, which means that divers observed but didn't retrieve a single item from the wreck. There was a single exception in 1976, when the Cousteau team (which discovered the wreck) retrieved some items -possibly for the typical identification of the wreck- in the presence of the Greek archeologist who was monitoring the dives. It is believed that these items ended in museums but no trace of them can be found today. The ship is also protected by the very severe Greek laws regarding maritime antiquities , since it's located inside Greek territorial waters.

From this year all activities related to the wreck will be controlled by a British organization, the 'Britannic Foundation' which will be the responsible for all the contacts with the Greek authorities (Ministry of Culture,Department of Maritime Antiquities) after special agreements. Without permission from both parties no dives are allowed. The 'Britannic Foundation' was created by the wreck's current owner, Simon Mills, who has stated several times in the past that the Britannic will be protected from salvagers.

Best regards,

Michail

[ian turner]

Thanks - that is good to hear.

Ian