Photo credit: © Steve Jones
The Royal Navy wants to stop divers taking souvenirs from their wrecked ships.
Sunken ships of the Royal Navy (RN) have never been abandoned, and the RN have never given up ownership. With the current review of the Armed Services Act, the new bill going through Parliament is making some real changes to wreck protection in Clause 47. Once the bill becomes an Act of Parliament these measures become law.
Proposed changes: the important one
Any ship sunk in military service becomes a protected place by default. In essence you will still be able to dive them, but on a ‘look don’t touch, enter or interfere or collect souvenirs’ basis.
This includes all British-flagged military vessels and vessels of any state sunk in military service in UK territorial waters.
you will be able to dive, but not enter, a vessel wrecked while on military service
Further implications are that any merchant vessel considered to be in military service, perhaps by having Royal Navy gunners on board, will also become protected places.
So, you will be able to dive, but not enter, a vessel wrecked while on military service.
For a more detailed account, Divernet has published an excellent piece by Prof. Mike Williams.
Have your say
BSAC has set up an email address from HQ for you to contact us about this issue - wreckaccess@bsac.com
We need thoughtful responses that demonstrate just how responsible we can be. This will enable BSAC as the National Governing Body for scuba diving in the UK to voice divers' feedback. It is a big change - but we have the chance to put our case responsibly to our local MPs, the All Party Parliamentary Groups and the Ministry of Defence. BSAC will commit to doing this.
