Who owns the wreck of the Britannic

[Jeremy Lee]

An addition to my above post:

If pirates could hit the Titanic, the Britannic at such a low depth compared to her sister, would be child's play.

Who wants to bet that the Britannic has already been looted?

IMO, Mr. Mills not publicizing the wreck won't deter pirates because if they are intent on getting items from the wreck, they could easily find out the wreck site with a little research.

Isn't it 37°42´.013N 24°16´.993E?

 

[Colleen Collier]

Ah yes, but you are forgetting one key to Britannic, Jeremy. Being that She is only 3 miles off the coast, in a shipping lane, in Greek territorial waters, any time a ship stops and hangs around the site, it is well known. (Like trying to hide in the open.) Since you have to obtain permission from them to be there, they may be a bit miffed at you for trying to sneak out there, arrest, search and seizure, and fine you for it.

 

[Eric Sauder]

Good point, Colleen. When the Carolyn Chouest arrived at the site for the Ballard expedition, very shortly thereafter a boat came out from Kea Island with a Greek customs official on board wanting to know what we were doing there and demanding to see our papers!

He tried to board the Chouest without any radio contact whatsoever, which wasn't the best of ideas considering the Chouest works with the U.S. Navy and acts as support ship for a naval vessel. Although not allowed on board, once he found out we had the proper permits, he left.

So, yes, the Greeks watch over her very carefully.

Eric Sauder

 

[Colleen Collier]

Thank you, Eric! I was contemplating after my post as to how watchful over the site they are. That answers it perfectly.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

That means that the Greek customs treat her as their 'national treasure' too!

But in a way, it is good, as it would not end up in the state of the Lusitania.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>That means that the Greek customs treat her as their 'national treasure' too!<<

A national treasure? Probably not, though you'd have to speak to the Greek authorities about that. It's more like the ship being a designated war grave and given all the protections of same. Whatever the case may be, it would be a foolhardy diver indeed who tried going down there without all the proper bona fides.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

The ship is a war grave designated by the Greek or the British?

 

[Michail Michailakis]

Considering the number of wrecks located in the Aegean (and the fact that some of them are from ancient times),it's not surprising that the Greek laws regarding their protection from salvagers are among the strictest worldwide. Britannic obvioulsy hasn't a "national trasure" status but just as any other wreck older than 50 years is under the watchful eye of the Greek Department of Marine Antiquities (responsible for the pemissions necessary to dive the wreck).


Jeremy, the wreck is REAL close to the port of Kea. It's just impossible not to be seen by anyone even during the night. See the second photo in the followin page to see what I mean:

http://www.hospitalshipbritannic.com/2003.htm

According to the British laws the wreck is a war grave. I think that Greece -being also a European Union member- has no problem to recognize it as such.

Colleen:Check the forum of the Britannic website.There is a reply to your post.

Mark Baber:The password-protected area is accessible only by the team of www.hospitalshipbritannic.com and contains some material that can't be presented in the "open" area simply for copyright reasons.

Best regards,
Michail

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Lets just imagine what would happen if the owner was not Mr. Mills and some person only knowing how to make money. Luckily, there is still government protection so the wreck would not get 'exploited'.