    [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                                     Technologies for
               Underwater Archaeology & Maritime
                                                            Preservation

                                                                                                                                           Cf

                                                                                                                 COASTAL ZONNE
                                                                                                           INFORMATION CENTER

                                                           Background Paper

                     159.5
                                                             41
                       T43                                                 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
                     1987                                                  office of Techno"y Assessment

                                                   Office of Technology Assessment

                                                   Congressional Board of the 100th Congress

                                                            MORRIS K. UDALL, Arizona, Chairman

                                                             TED, STEVENS, Alaska, Vice Chairman

                                               Senate                                                    House

                                         ORRIN G. HATCH                                         GEORGE E. BROWN, JR.
                                                Utah                                                    California

                                       CHARLES E. GRASSLEY                                         JOHN D. DINGELL
                                                Iowa                                                    Michigan

                                       EDWARD M. KENNEDY                                          CLARENCE E. MILLER
                                            Massachusetts                                                 Ohio

                                        ERNEST F. HOLLINGS                                          DON SUNDQUIST
                                           South Carolina                                               Tennessee

                                          CLAIBORNE PELL                                           AMO HOUGHTON
                                            Rhode Island                                                New York

                                                                      JOHN H. GIBBONS
                                                                          (Nonvoting)

                                                                     Advisory Council

                              WILLIAM J. PERRY, Chairman                    CLAIRE T. DEDRICK                 RACHEL McCULLOCH
                                H&Q Technology Partners                 California Land Commission              Brandeis University
                            DAVID S. POTTER, Vice Chairman                 S. DAVID FREEMAN                   CHASE N. PETERSON
                               General Motors Corp. (Ret.)            Lower Colorado River Authority            University of Utah

                                     EARL BEISTILINE                      MICHEL T. HALBOUTY                     JOSEPH E. ROSS
                                        Consultant                    Michel T. Halbouty Energy Co.       Congressional Research Service

                                 CHARLES A. BOWSHER                         CARL N. HODGES
                                General Accounting Office                  University of Arizona

                                                                           Director

                                                                      JOHN H. GIBBONS

                     The views expressed in this background paper are not necessarily those of the Board, OTA Advisory Council, or individual members thereof.

                                                                         Technologies for
                      Underwater Archaeology & Maritime
                                                                                  Preservation

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                                                                                                     CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
                                                                                                     Office of Technology Assessment
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                                                                        For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
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                           Recommended Citation:
                                U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technologies for Underwater Archaeol-
                                ogy and Maritime Preservation -Background Paper, OTA-BP-E-37 (Washington, DC: U.S.
                                Government Printing Office, September 1987).

                                           Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 87-619848

                                                   For sale by the Superintendent of Documents
                                           U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325
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                          Foreword

                            Exploration, trading, and other maritime activity along this Nation's coast and through
                          its inland waters have played crucial roles in the discovery, settlement, and develop-
                          ment of the United States. The remnants of these activities include such varied cul-
                          tural historic resources as Spanish, English, and American shipwrecks off the Atlantic
                          and Pacific coasts; abandoned lighthouses; historic vessels like Maine-built coastal
                          schooners, or Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks; and submerged prehistoric villages in the
                          Gulf Coast. Together, this country's maritime activities make up a substantial compo-
                          nent of U.S. history.
                            This background paper describes and assesses the role of technology in underwater
                          archaeology and historic maritime preservation. As several underwater projects have
                          recently demonstrated, advanced technology, often developed for other uses, plays
                          an increasingly important role in the discovery and recovery of historic shipwrecks
                          and their contents. For example, the U.S. Government this summer employed a powerful
                          remotely operated vehicle to map and explore the U.S.S. Monitor, which lies on the
                          bottom off Cape Hatteras. This is the same vehicle used to recover parts of the space
                          shuttle Challenger from the ocean bottom in 1986. The Commonwealth of Virginia
                          is using a variety of advanced techniques to document and excavate one of General
                          Cornwallis's ships, intentionally sunk off Yorktown during the Revolutionary War to
                          prevent General Washington from capturing it. In international waters, the location
                          and documentation of the British luxury liner Titanic was possible only by using a vari-
                          ety of sophisticated positional devices and deep water submersibles. These efforts have
                          captured the interest and imagination of the American public.
                            This background paper also examines the legal framework that affects the salvage
                          of historic shipwrecks and recovery of artifacts. Historic shipwrecks in U.S. coastal waters
                          contain a wealth of important information about the economic and social history of
                          this country. Yet they are suffering rapid attrition, in part because the United States
                          lacks a coherent national policy to guide the identification and preservation of under-
                          water and maritime cultural resources. For example, State laws governing historic ship-
                          wrecks found in State coastal waters often conflict with Federal Admiralty law, which
                          gives private salvors the right to salvage shipwrecks, regardless of their age or historic
                          value. Attempts to place historic shipwrecks under the same protection as other historic
                          cultural resources have led to the Historic Shipwreck Act of 1987, which is discussed
                          and analyzed in this background paper.
                            In undertaking this work, OTA sought the contributions of a wide spectrum of
                          knowledgeable and interested experts within Federal and State Governments and the
                          private sector. Some provided information and guidance, others reviewed drafts of this
                          background paper. OTA gratefully acknowledges their contributions of time and intel-
                          lectual effort.

                                                                          JOHN H. GIBBONS
                                                                          Director

                      Workshop Participants:
                      Technologies for Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Preservation,
                      Feb.20,1986

                                                                 Reynold Ruppe, Chairman
                                                 Underwater Archaeologist, Department of Anthropology
                                                            Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

                      J. Barto Arnold III                                          Craig T. Mullen
                      Underwater Archaeologist                                     President
                      Texas Antiquities Committee                                  Eastport International, Inc.
                      Austin, TX                                                   Upper Marlboro, MD
                      Calvin R. Cummings                                           Carol Olsen
                      Senior Archaeologist                                         Underwater Archaeologist
                      Denver Service Center                                        Maritime Preservation Department
                      National Park Service                                        National Trust for Historic Preservation
                      Denver, CO                                                   Washington, DC
                      Anne G. Geisecke                                             J.K. Orzech
                      Consultant                                                   Oceanographer
                      Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Preser-                  Marine Biology Resources Division
                        vation                                                     Scripps Institute of Oceanography
                      Arlington, VA                                                La Jolla, CA
                      Daniel J. Lenihan                                            Sheli 0. Smith
                      Chief                                                        Underwater Archaeologist
                      Submerged Cultural Resources Unit                            Mariners Museum
                      National Park Service                                        Newport News, VA
                      Santa Fe, NM

                      Charles H. Mazel
                      Nightsea Research
                      Charlestown, MA

                      NOTE: OTA appreciates and is grateful for the valuable assistance and thoughtful critiques provided by the workshop participants. The
                            workshop participants do not, however, necessarily approve, disapprove, or endorse this report. OTA assumes full responsibility
                            for the report and the accuracy of its contents.

                      iv

                   Technologies for Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Preservation
                   OTA Project Staff

                                               Lionel S. Johns, Assistant Director, OTA
                                        Energy, Materials, and International Security Division

                                        Peter D. Blair, Energy and Materials Program Manager

                                                 Ray A. Williamson, Project Director

                                                   Mary Lee Jefferson, Contractor

                                                 Jannelle Warren-Findley, Contractor

                                                       Administrative Staff

                                                   Lillian Chapman     Linda Long

                   Acknowledgments

                   The following individuals contributed to this study in a    variety of ways. OTA is grateful for their assistance:
                   Richard K. Anderson                                         John R. Kern
                   National Park Service                                       Department of State
                   Richard Anusciewicz                                         Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
                   Minerals Management Service                                 Dover, DE
                   Michele C. Aubry                                            Thomas F. King
                   National Park Service                                       Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
                   Larry Banks                                                 John J. Knoerl
                   U.S. Army Corps of Engineers                                National Park Service
                   Johan T. Benson                                             Garry Kozak
                   American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics          Klein Associates, Inc.
                   Washington, DC                                              Salem, NH
                   John D. Broadwater                                          Emory Kristoff
                   Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks                     National Geographic Society
                   Research Center for Archaeology                             Washington, DC
                   Yorktown, VA                                                Edward M. Miller
                   Toni Carrell                                                National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
                   National Park Service                                       Nancy Miller
                   James Delgado                                               National Conference of State Historic Preservation
                   National Park Service                                         Officers
                   Ralph E. Eshelman                                           Washington, DC
                   Calvert Maritime Museum                                     Charles Moorhead
                   Solomons, MD                                                U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
                   Rob Floyd                                                   Marcia Myers
                   John E. Chance   & Associates, Inc.                         National Trust for Historic Preservation
                   Lafayette, LA                                               Loretta Neumann
                   John Fowler                                                 Foresight Science & Technology, Inc.
                   Advisory Council on Historic Preservation                   Washington, DC
                   Donald Frey                                                 Mike Roberts
                   Institute of Nautical Archaeology                           Timelines, Inc.
                   Texas A&M University                                        Groton, MA
                   College Station, TX                                         Beth Savage
                   Ed Friedman                                                 National Park Service
                   Minerals Management Service                                 Carol Shull
                   James Hand                                                  National Park Service
                   U.S. Army Corps of Engineers                                Eugene Sterudt.
                   Lynn Hickerson                                              National Endowment for the Humanities
                   National Trust for Historic Preservation                    Melanie J. Stright
                   Helen Hooper                                                Minerals Management Service
                   National Trust for Historic Preservation                    Douglas R. Weimer
                   Stanley Hordes                                              Congressional Research Service
                   HMS Associates                                              Library of Congress
                   Santa Fe, NM                                                Bill Westermeyer
                   Paul Johnston                                               Office of Technology Assessment
                   Peabody Museum
                   Salem, MA

                   Vi

                          Contents

                                                                                                                                               Page
                          Introduction    .......................................................................                                  1
                          Principal Findings    ...................................................................                                3
                          Major Issues    .......................................................................                                  8
                               Federal Programs    .................................................................                             10
                               State Programs   ...................................................................                              17
                               Private Programs   ..................................................................                             19
                               International Efforts  ................................................................                           20
                               Interest Groups  ...................................................................                              23
                               Litigation Over Ownership of Historic Shipwrecks           ......................................                 26
                               The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987           ...............................................                     29
                               Technology Sharing     ...............................................................                            32
                               Communicating With Universities and Oceanographic Institutions                .........................           33
                          Technology, Underwater Archaeology,            and Maritime Preservation        ...........................            36
                               Technology Transfer   ............                                                                                36
                          Technologies for Survey, Identification,        Navigation,   Excavation,   Documentation,
                               Restoration, and Conservation        .....................................................                        38
                               Identification and Survey    ...........................................................                          38
                               Navigation .......................................................................                                40
                               Excavation and Documentation       ......................................................                         42
                               Conservation   .....................................................................                              43
                          Federal Policy Toward Underwater Archaeology and                Maritime   Preservation     ...................        46
                               National Park Service    ..............................................................                           46
                               The National Historic Preservation Act       .................................................                    46
                               The Abandoned Shipwreck Act        ......................................................                         47
                               The National Maritime Initiative     .....................................................                        47
                               Center for Preservation Technology       ..................................................                       49
                               Incentives for the Restoration and Rehabilitation of Floating        and Dry-Berthed      Vessels    .........    49
                               National Survey of Maritime Historic Resources          ........................................                  49
                          Bibliography    .......................................................................                                51

                                                                                  Boxes
                          Box                                                                                                                  Page
                          A.   Title 1, Section 106, Historic Preservation Act        .........................................                  10
                          B.   The National Park Service       .........................................................                         11
                          C.   The U.S.S. Monitor Project       ....                   ........................................                  14
                          D.   Regional Baseline Studies Completed for the         Minerals   Management       Service    ................       18
                          E.   The National Trust for Historic Preservation        ...........................................                   19
                          F.   The Seven Marine Jurisdictions       .....................................................                        22
                          G.   State Historic Shipwreck Legislation       .................................................                      27
                          H. Applications of Technology on the Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeological                    Project   .............      43
                          1. Lines Lifting and Lines Drawings         ....................................................                       48

                                                                                  Tables
                          Table No.                                                                                                            Page
                               1. Some Research Technologies Discussed in This Background Paper                .......................             8
                               2. Prehistoric and Historic Preservation Laws and Executive Orders            .........................             9
                               3. Federal Agencies With Major Roles in Underwater Archaeology and                Maritime   Preservation     ... 10
                               4. Submerged Resource Areas Surveyed by the National Park Service               .......................           11
                               5. National Marine Sanctuaries     .......................................................                        13
                               6. Threats to Underwater Archaeological and Maritime Resources              ..........................            30
                               7. Representative Historic Shipwrecks Exploited for Treasure           ..............................             31
                               8. U.S. Oceanographic Institutions     ....................................................                       33
                               9. Maritime Historic Resource Categories        ..............................................                    47
                          10.  Institutions and Agencies Participating in National Maritime Initiative Activities             .............      49
                          11. Artifacts Representative of Maritime Historical Collections             ..............................             50

                                                                                                                                                     vii

                                                                      INTRODUCTION

                        In 1986, at the request of the House Interior                   ... the preservation of this irreplaceable heritage
                     Committee and its Subcommittee on Public Lands                     is in the public interest so that its vital legacy of
                     the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)l                         cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, eco-
                     completed a report on Technologies for Pre-                        nomic, and energy benefits will be maintained
                     historic and Historic Preservation      .2 The report as-          and enriched for future generations of
                     sesses the use of technologieS3            for locating,           Americans.'
                     analyzing, and protecting elements of the Na-                   Underwater archaeological and maritime re-
                     tion's prehistoric and historic heritage, and re-               sources constitute a significant part of that cul-
                     views the legislative basis for historic preserva-              tural diversity, comprising structures, objects, and
                     tion in the United States.                                      sites.
                        Because submerged and maritime resources                        Underwater archaeology refers to the study of
                     are among the most neglected of U.S. cultural                   the remains of prehistoric and historic human
                     resources, and the United States lacks an effec-                activities fou nd underwater. These remains gen-
                     tive national policy for protecting them, the                   erally include the following:
                     House Interior Committee and Public Lands Sub-                        Shipwrecks, both scattered and intact, in
                     committee asked that OTA develop this back-                           deep or shallow water, within coralline for-
                     ground paper, extending the report's analysis of                      mations, and on or near shore, when, for ex-
                     technologies for underwater archaeology and                           ample, they are found within landfills or iso-
                     maritime preservation.4 Information contained in                      lated as hulks by uplift, lowered water levels,
                     this background paper derives primarily from a                        or changes in river channels. Shipwrecks and
                     workshop convened by OTA, February 20, 1986,                          their cargoes    .reveal life at the moment of
                     in which participants met to discuss issues con-                      each sinking, and can provide otherwise un-
                     cerning the preservation of underwater archaeo-                       available information on marine technology,
                     logical and maritime historical resources. OTA                        shipbuilding, navigation, and warfare. Many
                     also obtained additional material from staff re-                      ships served as homes at sea. Study of his-
                     search, personal interviews with underwater ar-                       toric shipwrecks can therefore provide val-
                     chaeologists and preservation professionals, and                      uable insights into trade, shipboard life, and
                     from an informal meeting on underwater archae-                        the interaction between the Old and New
                     ology and maritime preservation held at OTA,                          Worlds in the exploration and settlement of
                     November 3, 1986.                                                     this country.
                        The National Historic Preservation Act (16                      0  Lost objects, such as the contents of early
                     U.S.C. 470 et seq.) acknowledges the diversity                        traders' canoes lost in rivers and lakes. They
                     of America's cultural heritage. The Congress of                       often provide useful information on trade
                     the United States has declared, through this leg-                     routes, life in the period of exploration, and
                     islation that:                                                        early settlement patterns.
                                                                                        9  Submerged prehistoric sites, including those
                        IOTA conducted its assessment in part by convening a series of     of relatively recent periods that have sub-
                     workshops that addressed issues surrounding the uses of technol-
                     ogies for dry-land archaeology, underwater archaeology, prehistoric   sided near shore or been flooded by reser-
                     and historic structures, and prehistoric and historic landscapes. A   voirs 'and those on the Outer Continental
                     fifth workshop focused on problems relating to the physical pro-      Shelf that have been inundated by rising sea
                     tection of all classes of cultural resources.
                        2U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technologies      levels. The latter, whose existence is only
                     for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation, OTA-E-319 (Washington,     now being demonstrated, are especially im-
                     DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Sept. 1986).                     portant because they illustrate human adap-
                        'Theterm, preservation technologies, refers broadlyto anyequip-
                     ment, methods, and techniques that can be applied to the discov-      tations to coastal environments during the
                     ery; analysis; interpretation; restoration; conservation; protection; earliest phases of North American prehistory.
                     and management of prehistoric and historic sites, structures, and
                     landscapes.
                        41-etter of Oct. 8, 1986, signed by Representatives Morris K. Udall 5National Historic Preservation Act, Sec, I (b) (Purpose of the Act),
                     and John F. Seiberling.                                         para. 4.

                    2

                         Submerged remains encompass sites that                   Publicity surrounding the recovery of artifacts
                         functioned as work areas, dwellings, or de-           from several well-known historic shipwrecks, as
                         bris deposits. They vary widely and may con-          well as the development of technologies for lo-
                         sist of such remains as farms, warehouses,            cating and preserving, historic shipwrecks, have
                         piers, m'iddens, wells, villages, towns, even         focused greater attention on underwater cultural
                         cities.                                               resources. This background paper attempts to ar-
                       Maritime preservation encompasses under-                ticulate the most important policy issues related
                    water archaeology but extends to a wide variety            to the preservation of underwater archaeology
                    of maritime-related historic cultural resources            and maritime cultural resources. Some of the in-
                    such as ships and other vessels still afloat or dry-       formation in this background paper appeared in
                    berthed; shore installations such as lighthouses,          Technologies for Prehistoric and Historic Preser-
                    shipyards, drydocks, and coastal defense systems;          vation in different form and organization. We re-
                    settlements dependent on shipping, canals, locks           fer the reader to it for an overview of the issues
                    and levees; documents, works of art, and archives          common to all disciplines within the preserva-
                    pertinent to maritime activities; and, finally, to         tion field.
                    intangible cultural resources such as skills in boat-
                    building and navigation.

                                                           PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
                       if significant underwater and maritime historic          flagship Mary Rose as successful models for U.S.
                     cultural resources are to receive more effective           efforts. The successes of these restorations have
                     protection, the United States will have to de-             depended on long-term commitment by the gov-
                     velop a coherent national policy for managing              ernments of Sweden and the United Kingdom,
                     them.                                                      whose goals are to engender public interest, and
                       The current lack of a coherent national policy           to obtain reliable funding for proper research and
                     for underwater archaeology and maritime preser-            interpretive facilities, and access to technical ex-
                     vation has impeded the location and protection             pertise.
                     of many historically significant cultural resources.         Underwater and maritime cultural resources
                     In spite of the many cultural conservation laws            are vulnerable to a wide variety of natural and
                     enacted since 1906, particularly the National              manmade threats.
                     Historic Preservation Act, and their supporting              Looters and commercial treasure salvors con-
                     regulations, standards, and guidelines, under-             stitute the most serious manmade threats to ship-
                     water archaeology and maritime preservation
                     have received relatively little attention within the       wrecks. In the process of searching out and ex-
                     Federal Government. No single Federal depart-              tracting commercially promising contents they
                     ment or agency has been specifically charged               may destroy significant archaeological informa-
                     with funding, coordinating, and directing a                tion. However, natural threats, such as shoreline
                     strong, visible national program for underwater            erosion and wave action, may also significantly
                     archaeology and maritime preservation. Nor has             deplete irreplaceable underwater and maritime
                     the Federal Government asserted sovereign                  cultural resources. Weathering, neglect, and lack
                     prerogative over historic shipwrecks in its waters.        of maintenance rapidly deteriorate floating ves-
                                                                                sels. Rainwater left standing in ships' holds rap-
                       The Federal Government and States have be-               idly destroys interior planking and steel and iron
                     gun to allocate more resources for protecting un-          fittings.
                     derwater and maritime cultural resources. For
                     example, in 1987 the National Park Service pub-              The preservation of submerged and maritime
                     lished the first criteria for evaluating and nominat-      historical cultural resources depends heavily on
                     ing historic ships and shipwrecks to the National          advanced and often costly specialized tech-
                     Register of Historic Places, and in fiscal year 1986       nologies.
                     Congress appropriated $255,000 for Phase I of                Working underwater is hazardous and difficult.
                     the National Maritime Initiative, which is funding:        Such locational technologies as side-scan sonar,
                       9  an exhaustive literature search of the Na-            sub-bottom profilers, magnetometers, and re-
                          tion's maritime resources;                            motely operated vehicles were originally devel-
                       e  the drafting of standards for documentation           oped to explore the sea bottom for national secu-
                          of vessels; and                                       rity purposes, laying undersea cables, and for oil
                       *  the drafting of guidelines for nominating mar-        and mineral exploration. Because some of these
                          itime resources to the National Register of           specialized technologies are so expensive, only
                          Historic Places.                                      the best financed users can acquire and apply
                       Several other industrialized nations have fo-            them.
                     cused significant resources on underwater ar-                Technologies for scientificially analyzing and
                     chaeology and maritime preservation. Their com-            stabilizing the ever increasing numbers of objects
                     mitment to the protection of underwater and                recovered from underwater require highly skilled
                     maritime cultural resources appears more deter-            conservators knowledgeable about a variety of
                     mined than U.S. efforts. For example, preserva-            different materials, such as brass, different spe-
                     tion professionals in the United States view the           cies of wood, and iron. These specialists are in
                     recovery and restoration of the 17th century               seriously short supply. Likewise, there are not
                     Swedish warship Wasa and the English Tudor                 enough properly trained restorers of the many

                                                                                                                                     3

                    4

                    historically significant floating and dry-berthed              H.R. 74 and S. 858, which are nearly identi-
                    ships and other vessels in severe need of protec-           cal, would treat shipwrecks more like historic
                    tive treatment. Future research on conservation             properties on land. Among other things, these
                    of cultural resources should focus on training; de-         bills:
                    veloping more sensitive, low-cost methods and
                    instrumentation; and on the exploitation of new                   assert U.S. ownership of abandoned ship-
                    sources of archaeological and technological in-                   wrecks and transfers to the States title to
                    formation.                                                        those shipwrecks that are embedded in the
                                                                                      submerged lands of a State, in coralline for-
                      Historic  shipwrecks in U.S. coastal waters                     mations, or included in or determined eligi-
                    contain a    wealth of important information                      ble for inclusion in the National Register of
                    about the economic and social history of this                     Historic Places;
                    country, yet historic shipwreck sites are suffer-                 declare that the laws of salvage and of finds
                    ing rapid attrition. Passage and implementation                   do not apply to these abandoned ship-
                    of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act (H. R. 74 and                      wrecks;
                    S. 859) would assist in preserv      .ing significant          *  confirm Federal ownership of abandoned
                    historic shipwrecks for future generations by                     shipwrecks on Federal lands;
                    removing historic shipwrecks from the purview                  0  retain any existing Federal admiralty and sal-
                    of Federal admiralty courts and placing them                      vage law for all shipwrecks not covered by
                    expressly under Federal historic preservation                     these bills; and
                    law.                                                           *  direct the Advisory Council on Historic Pres-
                      The lack of Federal leadership in resolving the                 ervation to develop guidelines to assist the
                    question of jurisdiction over and ownership of                    States and the Federal Government in carry-
                    significant historic shipwrecks has severely ham-                 ing out their responsibilities and to allow for
                    pered most efforts to protect them for the public                 non-injurious recreational exploration and
                    and has resulted in lengthy court conflicts be-                   private sector salvage of shipwreck sites.
                    tween commercial treasure salvors and preser-                  Passage of either bil I would not restrict the right
                    vationists. Although submerged archaeological               of sport divers to visit and explore such wrecks,
                    sites under Federal administration are subject to           nor would it affect admiralty claims for the owner-
                    the same laws, regulations, and management pol-             ship of wrecks beyond the three-mile off-shore
                    icies that govern sites on dry land, the status of          State-controlled limit.
                    some submerged cultural sites, especially ship-
                    wrecks, situated outside national parks and ma-                A federally funded facility that focuses on the
                    rine sanctuaries, is adversely affected by a highly         research and development of preservation tech-
                    complicated body of law dealing with maritime               nology could make a major contribution to the
                    activities. Yet, other countries such as Australia,         study and preservation of underwater and mar-
                    Canada, Cyprus, Norway, Sweden, and the United              itime cultural resources.
                    Kingdom have enacted national laws regulating
                    the management of all cultural resources within                Although the private sector has a significant role
                    the waters of their outer continental shelves.              in developing and using preservation technol-
                                                                              . ogies, the Federal Government has the lead
                      In the absence of Federal legislation to safe-            responsibility for guiding preservation efforts
                    guard historic shipwrecks, 27 States have passed            throughout the United States. Participants in the
                    antiquities statutes to broaden their jurisdiction          OTA assessment, Technologies for Prehistoric and
                    and exert regulatory control over significant               Historic Preservation, cited the critical need for
                    wrecks within their territorial waters. Yet legal ac-       a federally supported facility for preservation
                    tions taken in Federal court by commercial treas-           technologies. A center would fostert      'he research
                    ure salvors have called into question the validity          and development of advanced, cost-effective
                    of State laws in controlling the recovery of ma-            technologies, train professionals in their use, de-
                    terials at historically significant sites, and have de-     velop technical standards, disseminate accurate
                    nied the States authority to enforce their statutes.        technical information, and promote public edu-

                                                                                                                                     5

                     cation about historic preservation. A center could         chaeological and maritime resources in their in-
                     also develop automated database systems for ar-            ventories. For example, the first serious Federal
                     chiving and manipulating preservation infor-               effort to undertake a computer-based resource
                     mation.                                  -1                survey did not begin until 1986, with the National
                       A federally supported center for preservation            Maritime Initiative, which is directed at survey-
                     technology would encourage closer interactions             ing historic maritime resources and recommend-
                     among underwater archaeologists, maritime pres-            ing standards and priorities for their preservation.
                     ervationists, dry-land archaeologists, historians          The first phase of the Initiative has thus far sur-
                                                                                veyed only one maritime resource category out
                     scientists, and engineers. it would be the primary         of eight identified -p reserved historic vessels over
                     source to which individuals could look for state-          40 feet long and over 50 years old.
                     of-the-art technical information for all relevant
                     disciplines in the field.                                    The National Register of Historic Places serves
                       In order to assist the Federal agencies in car-          as an important planning and protective tool for
                     rying out their legislatively mandated responsi-           historic cultural resources. National Register
                     bilities, Congress may wish to establish such a fed-       Bulletin #20, "Nominating Historic Vessels and
                     erally chartered center. It could mandate the              Shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic
                     establishment of a Federal Center for Preserva-            Places," which is designed to increase National
                     tion Technology within the Department of the In-           Register. listings of these resources,.will assist in
                     terior or some other Federal agency. Alterna-              efforts to protect them as well.
                     tively, Congress could create a National Center              Several States have inventoried their under-
                     for Preservation Technology, managed by a con-             water and maritime cultural resources. Maryland,
                     sortium of universities and preservation organi-           for example, has begun a survey of its maritime
                     zations. Such an institution would be able to draw         resources. Its Patuxent River Project, which was
                     on a multitude of different skills in several univer-      begun in 1978, includes a systematic survey of
                     sities, and in many university departments. If a           the river, including shipwrecks, wharfs, ferry land-
                     Center for Preservation Technology were estab-             ings, and inundated shore areas. in addition, the
                     lished, technologies for underwater archaeology            State's Chesapeake Bay Waterways Survey, com-
                     and maritime preservation could constitute a sig-          pleted in 1982, resulted in the listing of the Skip-
                     nificant portion of its workload.                          jack Fleet in the National Register of Historic
                       A Coalition for Applied Preservation Technol-            Places, as a district.6
                     ogy (CAPT) has recently been formed whose                    Future inventories of underwater archaeolog-
                     membership represent a wide variety of private             ical and maritime resources should be placed on
                     preservation organizations. CAPT is devoted to             standardized computer databases. The Shipwreck
                     establishing a multidisciplinary National Center           Reference File of the Texas State Antiquities Com-
                     for Applied Preservation Technology.                       mission, which is now being computerized, could
                       The lack of National and State inventories of            serve as a possible model. The file is based on
                     underwater archaieoliogicall sites and maritime            information culled from both historic and con-
                                                                                temporary sources such as maps and field reports.
                     historical resources has seriously impeded ef-             Since 1972, the Commission has listed over 1,000
                     fort's to protect these resources. If the Federal          shipwrecks of which approximately one-half have
                     Government and the States wish to protect un-              proved historic.
                     derwater archaeological sites and maritime cul-
                     tural resources, they should apply gl@eater efforts          Increased identification, interpretation, and
                     to making such inventories.                                protection of significant underwater and maritime
                       Although thousands of historic ships and                 cultural resources will depend on greater public
                     smaller vessels, and prehistoric sites are suspected        6Skipjacks are Chesapeake Bay-built shallow draft sloops, designed
                     to exist in State and Federal waters, both levels          to dredge oysters. The Skipjack fleet is the last rernaini,ng working
                     of government have neglected underwater ar-                sailing fleet in the United States.

                   6

                                                                                                                       1"K
                                                                                             P"O !V

                                                                                                               Photo credit: Ray A. Williamson

                                                 Skipjack fleet off Sandy Point Light, Chesapeake Bay, MID

                   appreciation of their historical value and the scar-        sult in a higher degree of protection. Specifically,
                   city of their numbers. Federal, State, and local            it will be important to educate sport divers, fisher-
                   education programs should be expanded to reach              man, salvors, the oil and gas industry, and other
                   a wider audience.                                           users of underwater resources, as well as Federal
                     The public is often unaware of the crucial differ-        and State agencies and local communities about
                   ences between treasure hunting, which focuses               the historic value of such sites.
                   on historic objects of high intrinsic cultural or eco-         In order to improve the preservation of un-
                   nomic value, and archaeology, which focuses on              derwater archaeological and maritime cultural
                   the scientific understanding of the entire archaeo-         resources, the National Park Service and other
                   logical site within the context of its surroundings.        Federal agencies could focus more consistent at-
                   In their attempts to recover artifacts quickly, treas-      tention on them.
                   ure hunters both deliberately and inadvertantly
                   destroy much of the contextual information es-                 The National Park Service could take the lead
                   sential for advancing scientific knowledge of pre-          in developing and articulating a clear national
                   historic and historic sites. Improved education of          policy to guide the preservation of maritime and
                   the general public, and those whose activities              underwater cultural resources and coordinate
                   might adversely affect significant sites, could re-         Federal programs for preserving these elements

                                                                                                                                   7

                    of the country's history. It could also include           may be appropriate for Congress to extend such
                    more in its publications series on the technologies       tax incentives and make them available for pri-
                    for underwater archaeology and maritime pres-             vately owned, income-producing floating and
                    ervation.                                                 dry-berthed historic vessels. Congress might also
                      The National Maritime Initiative involves Fed-          consider providing incentives for encouraging sal-
                    eral and private groupS,7 and is helping to focus         vors to follow established archaeological proce-
                    attention on the Nation's historic maritime re-           dures for excavating shipwrecks.
                    sources. Congress might consider an additional              As manager of the National Marine Sanctuaries,
                    initiative to inventory and protect other sub-            the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administra-
                    merged non-maritime sites. The greatest need i@           tion (NOAA) has taken the lead in the efforts to
                    for sustained and predictable funding for such ini-       map and preserve the U.S.S. Monitor, the historic
                    tiatives. In addition, it will be particularly impor-     Union ironclad, which lies off Cape Hatteras.
                    tant for the Federal agencies to achieve more ef-         However, it has little in-house underwater ar-
                    fective coordination in their efforts to develop          chaeological expertise. If NOAA expects to ex-
                    technologies for underwater archaeology and               pand its involvement in underwater archaeology,
                    maritime preservation. An information clearing-           as it acquires new ocean areas for sanctuary des-
                    house would be of substantial assistance in this          ignation, it could develop its own in-house cul-
                    area. Congressional oversight may be necessary            tural resource expertise.
                    to assure that information sharing and coordina-
                    tion are truly effective.                                   The Federal Government could assist State and
                      Since 1976, tax incentives have promoted the            local efforts by providing additional funding for
                    protection of historic income-producing struc-            projects in underwater archaeology and maritime
                    tures in virtually every congressional district. It       preservation. If properly funded, universities and
                     7For example, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which other private groups could provide considerable
                    has attempted to promote the concept of a national maritime pol- technological assistance to Federal, State, and
                    icy since 1976.                                           local projects.

                                                                               MAJOR, ISSUES
                           Federal admiralty law and contradictory deci-                            Table 1.-Sorne Research Technologies Discussed in
                         sions from Federal courts concerning the dispo-                                             This Background Paper
                         sition of historic shipwrecks and their contents                           * side-scan sonar: locates -shipwrecks and sites on the bot-
                         have created uncertainty within State govern-                                tom surface by detecting the echoes of high-frequency
                         ments over the extent to which they can regu-                                acoustic pulses transmitted from an instrument towed be-
                                                                                                      hind ship;
                         late salvage within their waters for public bene-                          * sub-bottom profiler: locates shipwrecks and sites below
                         fit. This confusion has denied historic shipwrecks                           the bottom by detecting the return signals of lower fre-
                         and their contents the long-standing legal protec-                           quency acoustic pulses from instrument towed behind
                                                                                                      ship;
                         tion enjoyed by all other culturally significant re-                       - magnetometer: registers changes in the local magnetic
                         sources and has left them vulnerable to the often                            field as detector passes over iron-bearing cultural materi-
                         destructive actions of those interested in the re-                           al. It can be used from a ship or an airplane;
                                                                                                    * remotely operated vehicles (ROVs): a variety of submersi-
                         covery of commercially profitable objects, rather                            ble vehicles that can carry photographic or video cameras
                         than the scientific study of archaeological sites.                           to image submerged objects. ROVs can also retrieve sam-
                                                                                                      ples from the bottom.
                           Aggravating the risk to historic shipwrecks and                          - photography. black and white, color, and infrared at a wide
                         their contents is the increasing availability of new                         variety of scales; and
                         and powerful technologies that will hasten their                           - video: color and black and white.
                         location and possible damage and loss. For ex-                             SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.
                         ample, state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments
                         are now powerful enough to locate most of the                              itime preservation processes. The following issues
                         shipwrecks in U.S. waters. Deep diving remotely                            apply generally to most or all technologies for un-
                         operated vehicles (ROVs) and robots can visit                              derwater archaeological and maritime historical
                         sites previously unreachable.                                              sites. They are not necessarily in priority order:
                           Of all cultural resources, submerged archaeo-                              issue A: The lack of a coherent national pol-
                         logical and many maritime historical resources                               icy for underwater archaeology and maritime
                         are among the most heavily dependent for their                               preservation has impeded the location and
                         preservation on complex and often costly tech-                               protection of important cultural resources.
                         nologies (table 1). Some technologies enable                                 This lack is felt at both the Federal and State
                         underwater archaeologists to confront often haz-                           levels, and is Ultimately reflected in local com-
                         ardous working conditions as well as a host of                             munities. Compared with efforts by Federal and
                         practical problems that affect breathing, visibil-                         State agencies to preserve other elements of the
                         ity, movement, communication, and length of re-                            Nation's cultural heritage, the preservation of
                         search time at sites. These include tides, currents,                       both maritime and submerged archaeological re-
                         cold, depth, turbidity, hostile marine animals,                            sources has been extremely limited. No single
                         plants, and severe concretion or deep burial of                            Federal department or agency has been specifi-
                         objects by sediments. Other technologies enable                            cally charged with funding, coordinating, and
                         the constant, highly specialized maintenance es-                           directing a strong, visible national program for
                         sential to all items recovered unde            'rwater, and to             underwater archaeological and maritime preser-
                         many maritime resources, such as floating and                              vation. In addition, the Federal Government has
                         dry-berthed vessels.                                                       never even asserted sovereign prerogative over
                           Currently, there exists only a small core of                             historic shipwrecks in its waters. In spite of the
                         professionals experienced in the wide array of                             body of cultural conservation laws enacted since
                         methods used to survey, record, excavate, re-                              the Antiquities Act of 1906 (table 2), particularly
                         cover, analyze, inventory, conserve, and inter-                            the watershed National Historic Preservation Act,
                         pret cultural materials. Participants in the OTA                           and its Section 106 (box A)          8 submerged cultural
                         study identified a range of concerns related to                              8Aswell as the many supporting regulations, standards, and guide-
                         the use of existing or potential technical appli-                          lines, and management and protection mechanisms, including the
                         cations in the underwater archeological and mar-                           National Register of Historic Piaces.

                         8

                                                                                                                                                                                             9

                                                     Table 2.-Prehistoric and Historic Preservation Laws and Executive Orders

                              Laws:                                                                               Legislation under consideration in the 99th Congress:
                              � The Antiquities Act of 1906, Public Law 59-209 (6 U.S.C.                          e R.M.S. TITANIC Memorial Act of 1985 (H.R. 3272)
                                431-433)                                                                          * The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1985 (H.R. 3558 and S.
                              � The National Park Service Organic Act (An Act of Aug. 25,                           2569)
                                1916), (39 Stat. 535, 16 U.S.C. 1)                                                9 The Olmsted Heritage Landscapes Act of 1985 (H.R. 37)
                              � The Historic Sites Act of 1935, Public Law 74-292 (16 U.S.C.                      Regulations:'
                                461-467)                                                                          * 43 CFR 3 (Antiquities Act)
                              � The National Historic Preservation Trust Act of 1949, Public                      * 43 CFR 7 (Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979)
                                Law 81-408 (63 Stat. 927, 16 U.S.C. 468 et seq.)                                  * 36 CFR 60 (National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
                              � The Submerged Lands Act of 1953, Public Law 83-31 (67                               (NHPA) and EO 11593)
                                Stat 29, 43 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.)                                                  * 36 CFR 61 (NHPA and EO 11593)
                              � Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Public Law 83-212 (67                          * 36 CFR 63 (NHPA and EO 11593)
                                Stat. 462, 43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.)                                                - 36 CFR 65 (Historic Sites Act of 1935)
                              � The Management of Museum Properties Act of 1955, Pub-                             9 36 CFR 66 (Archaeolgical'and Historic Preservation Act of
                                lic Law 84-69 (16 U.S.C. 18f)                                                       1974)
                              � The Reservoir Salvage Act of 1960, Public Law 86-523 (16                          & 36 CFR 68 (NHPA)
                                U.S.C. 469-469c)                                                                  * 36 CFR 800 (NHPA and EO 11593)
                              � The Department of Transportation Act of 1966, Public Law                          * 40 CFR 1500 (NEPA) "Regulations for Implementing the
                                89-670 (80 Stat. 931)                                                               Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy
                              � The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Public Law                          Act."
                                89-665 (16 U.S.C. 470)                                                            Standards and Guidelines for Historic Preservation:
                              � The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Public Law                           "The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilita-
                                90-190 (16 U.S.C. 470)                                                            tion and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings,"
                              � Executive Order 11593, "Protection and Enhancement of                             National Park Service (revised 1983), booklet.
                                the Cultural Environment," May 13, 1971. (36 F.R. 8921)                             "The Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines
                              � Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Public Law 92-203                            for Archeology and Historic Preservation," Federal Register
                                (85 Stat. 688, 43 U.S.C. 1601-1624)                                               48, No. 190, Thursday, Sept. 29, 1983.
                              � The Archaeological and Historical Preservation Act of 1974,                         "Final Uniform Regulations, Archaeological Resources Pro-
                                Public Law 93-291 (88 Stat. 174, 16 U.S.C. 469 et seq.)                           tection Act of 1979," Federal Register 49, No. 4, Friday, Jan.
                              � American Folklife Preservation Act of 1976, Public Law                            6, 1984.
                                94-201 (20 U.S.C. 2101-2107)                                                        "Draft Guidelines for Historic and Archeological Resource
                              � The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, Public                         Management: Federal Agency Responsibilities Under Sec-
                                Law 95-341 (92 Stat. 46a, 42 U.S.C. 1996)                                         tion 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act," National
                              � Central Idaho Wilderness Act of 1980, Public Law 96-312                           Park Service, Feb. 5, 1986.
                                (94 Stat. 948, 16 U.S.C. 1274)                                                      Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Executive Direc-
                              � National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980,                            tor's "Procedures for Review of Proposals for Treatment of
                                Public Law 96-515 (94 Stat. 2987, 16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.)                          Archaeological Properties: Supplementary Guidance," 45
                              � The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Pub-                         Federal Register 78808.
                                lic Law 96-95 (16 U.S.C. 470aa et seq.)                                             Advisory Council on Historic Preservation "Protection of
                              � Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, Pub-                          Historic Properties," 36 CFR Part 800, Federal Register 51,
                                lic Law 97-446 (96 Stat. 2350-2363, 19 U.S.C. 2601-2613)                          No. 169, Sept. 2, 1986,

                              aRegulations ar a promulgated, adopted, and then compiled in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), in order to implement provisions of general laws. The name of
                              the act it implements follows each citation.
                              SOURCE: U.S. Department of the Interior and OTA.

                              resources and many historic maritime resources                                        2. the National Maritime Initiative (see the sec-
                              have, at best, received uneven attention by Fed-                                          tion, Federal Policy Toward Underwater Ar-
                              eral agencies.                                                                            chaeology and Maritime Preservation), mo-
                                Two recent developments, however, promise                                               nies for which were allocated by Congress
                              to encourage more aggressive protective Federal                                     National Register Program, only 44 vessels were lis       .ted." James P.
                              action:                                                                             Delgado, "The National Register of Historic Places and Maritime
                                                                                                                  Preservation," The APT Bulletin 9, No. 1, 1987, p. 35.
                                1. publication of the first criteria for evaluating                                 10james P. Delgado and a National Park Service Maritime Task
                                    and nominating historic ships and ship-                                       Force, National Register Bulletin #20, "Nominating Historic Ves-
                                                                                                                  sels and Shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic Places"
                                    wrecks to the National Register of Historic                                   (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park
                                    Places,9 10 and                                                               Service, Interagency Resources Division, 1987) This publication aids
                                                                                                                  preservation professionals and other interested citizens in identify-
                                "'The National Register has been underutilized for maritime re-                   ing, evaluating, and nominating historic vessels and shipwrecks to
                              sources, particularly historic vessels. By 1976, the tenth year of the              the National Register of Historic Places.

                            10

                                                                                                                   Table 3.-Federal Agencies With Major Roles in
                                                 -
                                                   *1                                                           Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Preservation
                                                 T!     V
                                                 T ,

                                                                                                                Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
                                                                                                                Bureau of Reclamation (Department of Interior)
                                                 'Elk                                                           Environmental Protection Agency
                                               1M.     W,        U.,                                            Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of Interior)
                              Otte erally, 5,
                                                                                                                General Services Administration
                                          ZM, ANAK -          P01 1
                            1,J h@j@@R A , @ A I               @;A- -
                                                                                                                Minerals Management Service (Department of Interior)
                                                                                                 &
                                                                                         fl'y
                                                                                           X U -                National Endowment for the Humanities
                                                                  of                                            National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
                                                                                                                   (Department of Commerce)
                                             At
                            k i id
                                                                                                                National Park Service (Department of Interior)
                                                                   I&OR, "PTYP I                                National Science Foundation
                            TAR
                                                                                                                Smithsonian Institution
                                                                                            g U MrT I   I
                                                                                            11 _,%              U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Department of Defense)
                            U11  AeugVea
                                                                                                                U.S. Coast Guard (Department of Defense)
                                                                                                                U.S. Forest Service (Department of Agriculture)
                            Sri Vf At kk` -A 'Ad
                                                                                                                U.S. Navy (Department of Defense)
                                                                                               4
                                                                                                                U.S. Soil Conservation Service (Department of
                                                                                                                   Agriculture)
                                                                                                                SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.

                                                                                                                ment's activity has produced work of excellent
                                 in fiscal year 1986 to the Department of the                                   quality and has involved diverse groups from the
                                 Interior for Phase One.                                                        public and private sectors. Federally supported
                                                                                                                efforts include the following:
                                               Federal Programs                                                 The National Park Service
                              Every Federal agency is required by law to pre-                                      N PS has long assu med the pri mary role i n pro-
                            serve prehistoric and historic properties on lands                                  viding technical assistance on all aspects of
                            (including submerged lands) within its jurisdic-                                    historic preservation throughout the national park
                            tion and to consider their treatment in general                                     system, to other Federal agencies, to State agen-
                            program planning. Each agency plays a different                                     cies, local preservation organizations, and the
                            part in the process of cultural resource manage-                                    general public. Through its Submerged Cultural
                            ment and the development of relevant technol-                                       Resources Unit (SCRU)" in Santa Fe, New Mex-
                            ogies (table 3). The National Park Service (NPS),                                   ico, the Service is actively involved in underwater
                            for example (box 13), is specifically charged with                                  archaeological field work in many areas under
                            protecting cultural resources within the National                                   NPS jurisdiction. SCRU began in 1976 as a spe-
                            Park System and with providing general techni-                                      cial team charged with designing site manage-
                            cal preservation assistance. The U.S. Army Corps                                    ment strategies based on the impacts of waters
                            of Engineers, by contrast, has jurisdiction over the                                on archaeological materials in selected reservoirs
                            Nation's coasts and navigable waterways, regu-                                      throughout the country.12 SCRU has now become
                            lating both public and private projects such as                                     a fixture within NPS and the national leader in
                            dam building or dredging, and is obliged to bal-                                    underwater park interpretation, park manage-
                            ance preservation needs against other program
                            requirements.
                              In the absence of a coherent national policy                                         I ISCRU is a component of the Southwest Cultural Resources Cen-
                            for safeguarding submerged archaeological sites                                     ter, Southwest Regional Office.
                                                                                                                   12D.J. Lenihan, T.L. Carrell, S. Fosberg, et al., The Final Report
                            and maritime resources, the agencies, which pos-                                    of the National Reservoir Inundation Study, U.S. Department of
                            sess varying degrees of expertise, and generally                                    the interior, National Park Service, Southwest Cultural Resources
                            inadequate funding, have continued to locate,                                       Center, 1981. This report is the product of a 5-year cooperative
                                                                                                                effort involving NPS as lead agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
                            analyze, and manage them. Although carried out                                      neers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Soil Conser-
                            in a fragmented fashion some of the govern-                                         vation Service.

                                                                                                                                           -Submerged Resource Areas Surveyed
                                                                                                                              Table 4.
                                                                                                                  RRill
                                                             h i i I N                A t ih1, P ' ' ' I "@
                                                                                                                                              by the National Park Service
                                              ox                                      Ar @ etylicetr,
                                                                                          _dge n
                                                aflo                                                              oft j!   Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska
                                         he@.N         n    [,Park-S@r                                            ii"
                                                                                                                  gthe
                                                                                                                           Glen Canyon National Receration Area, Arizona
                                                                                                                  pqo y
                                                                                                                           Montezuma Well, Arizona
                                                                   i,ng a'                                        MAX-411;
                                                 an.                                             A; m?t           -- e@
                                                                                      gp y,                       J60
                                                                                                                           Buffalo National River, Arkansas
                                                                                                                  Al       Arkansas Post National Memorial, Arkansas
                                                                                      _yationi&I te i'001call I
                                                     I
                                                       dra Uresdurc
                                                     t,                               -Ii@�11TWI                           Channel Islands National Park, California
                                                                                                                           Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
                                                     tW                                          H,
                                                                                                                           Point Reyes National Seashore, California
                                  'N@a!            ffifflibiVa-                                                   ic a
                                          -y
                                                                 id                              %f
                                                                                                                           Biscayne National Monument, Florida
                                                                                      mthop"                      t
                                    A000-sibU                                         64
                                                                                      ih - Xo                              Everglades National Park (Ft. Jefferson National
                                                                                                                  A
                                                                                                                  S,          Monument), Florida
                                       e 0-       tco,,@,,@Sa*t-p'a"n--@,,"--4'-',,th@-@i@,@@V@i-@--@,-@'l@--I 114
                                                                                      all,
                                                                                                                           Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida
                                                                                      gp
                                                              eenne iI
                                                                                                 @%
                                                                                                                           Pu'uhonua o honaunau National Historical Park, Hawaii
                                             A-@ h
                                                       yenjoyspeciappow                   o-
                                                                                                                           U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Hawaii
                               V     A         ith" Y 4 1                             - -II, _'. ,                -i
                                                             4-50'051,0, Ocu          'ress1affiumep FAI,
                                                   0
                                                                                                                  --m      Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana
                                                                                                 tip'.            jK
                                           aarl,
                                                                                      0141 721II26tig                      Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland
                                                                                      V                           Agil
                                   I i sh-ed Y@,e                                                iA
                                                                                                                           Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts
                                                                                                                           Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
                                                 )rntn&terrrt6h0k4hd`
                                                                                                                           Ozark National Scenic Riverway, Mississippi
                                                      r -,molv ilneht,.iby-a0vAC-
                                                                                                                  At       Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada
                                                                                          Nation                  1I !Aiff Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma
                                                        -ngr -s dc
                                                     'o       e
                               nP
                                                                                                                           Amistad National Recreation Area, Texas
                                                                                                                           Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Texas
                                   Nati                       st                      Hin dddifibfi-td"@
                                 A'@
                                             44                                                                            Padre Island National Seashore, Texas
                                                                                          a,
                                      p-,n#a,i        L     r
                                                                                                 es
                                                                                      Ul
                                                                                                                           Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin
                                                                                      -pro mg    Ifit,
                                                                                                                           Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
                                                                                                                  W
                                                                                                                           Virgin Islands National Park, Virgin Islands
                                    f4iler,
                                   sub              A
                                                                  _I-                 I-,
                                 d
                                                         .9-7-                                                             War In The Pacific National Historical Park, Guam
                                                                                      gv,
                                   ti II 975"INIPS jard,      -  "                    ' -*A@io',6 'b,                      Buck Island Reef National Monument, Virgin Islands
                                                                                      _j , ,     -                0,
                                                                                      ,0,'r
                                                                                      f f#o,
                                                                                      Y
                                                                                                                  ct
                                                                                      @44        tain F v
                                                                                      @ , @R                      sti
                               id,411-1@ drat'a          end1Lh'9_-,%                 'd
                                                                                                                           SOURCE: National Park Service, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit.
                                                I R    isierio 111, 6,
                                            na
                                                   Bff-         "-@`S'                                            b b 4
                                                           lings,41 iq                %H4AI5S)pf` jii- D
                                                                                      r
                                                                th                        V      'toi             MCI
                                                                                                                  Ar 0_3
                                                                  j                                                        Hawaii, where the remains of the U.S.S. Arizona
                                                                                                                           and U.S
                                          h i ftbi i4t @ite@.!N K                                                                         S. Utah lie as a result of the 1941 Japa-
                                                                                                                  ,r 0;ja  nese aircraft attack that drew the United States
                                                                                                                           into World War 11; Alaska; and off Kosrae in the
                                                   jh't dN4fj'6b                      r                           e-sefe-4
                                                                                      5,
                                                                                      71
                                                            )"Jecul"toa               @s  r                                U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific. SCRU has also
                                               M
                                           W
                                                             h'                                                            successfully secured the participation of volun-
                                                                                                                           teer sport divers and local historians at Isle Ro-
                                                                                                                           yale; Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
                                                                                                                           off the coast of California; Apostle islands in Lake
                                                                                                                           Superior, Wisconsin; and Point Reyes-Farallon Is-
                               ment, and diver training. It provides the only                                              lands National Marine Sanctuary, California. The
                               professional team within the Federal Government                                             Unit has also worked with local news media, the
                               devoted to underwater archaeological activities.                                            National Geographic Society, and the British
                                  SCRU has studied shipwreck and other under-                                              Broadcasting Corp. to interpret shipwreck archae-
                               water archaeological sites within 23 of the 45 sub-                                         ology and "the conservation-oriented, nonde-
                               merged resource areas (table 4) managed by NPS                                              structive technique that is their distinctive trade-
                                                                                                                           mark.11113 SCRU is often consulted by other
                                   a@eas
                                       6
                                    0
                                   a

                               throughout the United States and its territories.                                           Federal agencies, State offices, and private ar-
                               SCRU has located shipwrecks, and recorded,                                                  chaeologists for guidance and is currently advis-
                               measured, and documented them in such dis-
                               similar underwater environments as: Lake Su-                                                  13james P. Delgado, National Park Service, personal communi-
                               perior, Michigan, where the Isle Royale National                                            cation, February 1987. See also Peter G. Howorth, "California Ship-
                               Park contains numerous wrecks; Pearl Harbor,                                                wrecks: Finders, Weepers," Waterfront, February 1986.

                         12

                                                                    drawing    engine of Glenlyon, sunk &t Isle Royale, MI, in 1924.

                                                                                                                   '4@

                                                                                             41'5' -

                                                                                        "z t 1@0
                                                                'WOO

                                                                                                    Photo credit: National Park Service, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit
                                              Illustration of engine done underwater by Submerged Cultural Resources Unit illustrator.

                                                                                                                                                                         13

                          ing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-                                        Table 5.-National Marine Sanctuaries
                          ministration on its U.S.S. Monitor preservation                             * U.S.S Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, designated 1975
                          project.                                                                      -a one-square-nautical-mile area surrounding the wreck
                                                                                                        of the historIC Civil War ironclad of the Union, sunk off
                             The NPS has recently created a position of Mar-                            Cape Hatteras in 1862
                          itime Historian and institutionalized its efforts for                       * Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary, designated 1975-a
                          the National Maritime Initiative in its Maritime                              100-square-nautical- mile area off the Florida keys which
                                                                                                        includes part of the largest of North America's coral reef
                          Initiative Office. NPS also maintains a National                              systems
                          Maritime Museum in the Golden Gate National                                 9 Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, designated
                          Recreational Area in San Francisco.                                           1980-a 1,252-square-nautical-mile area off the coast of
                                                                                                        Southern California, which contains shipwrecks and
                             Together with the University of New Mexico                                 supports one of the world's largest and most diverse
                                                                                                        marine mammal populations as well as one of the most
                          NPS supports a Spanish Colonial Research Cen                        -         extensive of the State's few remaining kelp beds
                          ter, which is devoted to studying the historical                            * Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary, designated 1981 -a
                          records and material culture of the Spanish                                   5.3-square-nautical-mile reef area located off the lower
                                                                                                        Florida Keys
                          Colonial period. One objective of the center is                             * Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, designated
                          to develop a computerized database from Span-                                 1981-a 17-square-nautical-mile area 17.5 nautical miles
                          ish Colonial and other archival sources. Among                                off Florida where the warm Gulf stream meets the cooler
                                                                                                        waters of the coast over a limestone outcropping which
                          other things, the Center is active in studying and                            supports sponges, corals, tropical reef fish, and
                          interpreting the maritime records of Spain.                                   invertebrates
                                                                                                      * Point Reyes-Farallon islands national Marine Sanctuary,
                                                                                                        designated 1981 -a 948 square-nautical-mile site nothw6st
                          NOAA's U.S. National Marine                                                   of San Francisco, California, representative of near and
                          Sanctuary Program                                                             offshore northeastersn Pacific habitats and notable forits
                                                                                                        unique concentration of seabirds
                             This program, within the Office of Ocean and                             * Fagatele gay national Marine Sanctuary, designated 1686-
                          Coastal Resource Management, oversees the                                     a 163-acre bay off Tutuila Island, American Samoa, com-
                                                                                                        prising deep-water coral terraces characteristic of high
                          management of seven sites (table 5) within U.S.                               volcanic islands in the tropical Pacific
                          waters. These are fragile ecosystems designated                             SOURCE: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
                          nationally significant pursuant to Title III of the
                          Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act
                          of 1972, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq. (amended in                                 Merrimac) in the famous duel of the ironclads off
                          1984).14                                                                    Hampton Roads, Virginia.
                             NOAA's cultural conservation efforts so far af-                            The U.S.S. Monitor's designation directs NOAA
                          fect only one site among the seven-the U.S.S                        *       to extend protection to a cultural resource lo-
                          Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (box Q. Des-                              cated beyond the limits of the country's territorial
                          ignated for its historic significance in 1975, the                          sea to the Outer Contintental Shelf and to exam-
                          sanctuary encloses a circular area 1 nautical mile                          ine interactions between natural and cultural ele-
                          in diameter surrounding the wreck of the historic                           ments.  15 The agency is managing the site through
                          Civil War ironclad. The vessel, resting upside                              its U.S.S. Monitor Project. The project is a multi-
                          down in the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" off Cape                            year effort by NOAA to develop and begin im-
                          Hatteras, North Carolina, represented a revolu-                             plementing a master plan, the first phase of which
                          tionary technical advance over the typical broad-                           calls for an assessment of preservation options
                          side warships of that era and changed the char-                             ranging from research, survey, recording, docu-
                          acter of naval warfare. Sunk during a storm in                              mentation, and removal of contents from the site,
                          1862, she had, during the same year, battled the                            to total recovery. These options reflect the full
                          Confederate ironclad CS.S. Virginia (formerly the                           spectrum of cultural resource management
                            "This legislation and its attendant regulations: 1) enhance re-           issuesl6and include not only in situ archaeolog-
                          source protection through comprehensive and coordinated man-                  "Nancy Foster, "National Marine Sanctuaries-saving Offshore
                          agement; 2) support scientific research on discrete marine resources        Ecosystems," Sea Technology, November 1986, pp. 22-28.
                          for improved long-term planning; and 3) promote public aware-                 16See Draft "U.S.S. Monitor National National Marine Sanctu-
                          ness, appreciation, and judicious uses of these resources through           ary Research Management Plan," National Oceanic and Atmos-
                          educational and recreational initiatives.                                   pheric Administration, 1987.

                         14

                                 Box C.-The U.&S. Monitor Pirojecit

                                                                                                                        W
                              Teams from NOAA, the U.S. Navy, as we@',` as
                                                                                   n the
                           archaeologists from NPS and scholars fror
                           Smiths'o nian, Institution recently took part inan'                                            4                   M,
                                                                                                                 ZZ
                           expe
                                  dition -to theVS.S. Monitor to -determtne@
                           over a, 10-day period, the rates at which ee-
                           ments of the si@iiqare corroding and breaking
                           apart. The Navy contribute4their oce
                                                                                an-going
                           tug Apache, whichlow@red the Navy'                                                                                                            IL
                                                                            1 -ton ROV
                           Deep, Drone to the site., The Deep, Drmw
                                                                                                                              94,
                           vided ima;es of the Monitor.to video screeri@,-
                                         i
                           aboard the Apache, 4,nd-@tobed the armor
                                                                                                                      Z
                           i ng of the vessel With a, device that measures the
                           weak cuerentsof electricitypassing betweenthe:                             @'5
                           metal and water immediately'sLiri6utiding it.'
                           These currents indicate the rate at                      metal
                                                                                                                                            N"7
                           is rusting, The Deep Drone is'ouifittedwith sev-,,I                                                         Photo credit., Eastport Intemational, Inc.
                           eral attachments, among thern, instrumen ts d`&,,'@,
                           signed for various kinds of measuremem as well                                Artist's rendering    of  the  remotely operated vehicle,
                                                                                  Sc.                    Deep Drone, above the wreck of the Civil War Union
                                                                             -ts.1 ier-
                           as martipu lation and recovery of, ol>
                                                                           *c            4-                   ship, U.S.S. Monitor,     lying 230 feet deep off
                           tists can, by learning which parts of the,                                                the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC.
                           tot are deteriorated to the point,of c6ftapse@@,!
                           establish certain preservation priorities.Assisted                         guidance on its U.S.S. Monitor Pro ect. NOAA
                           by Deep, Drone,,a bank of corripw
                                                                           ers 4,nsta
                                                                                                      seeks to avoid m i stakes m ade d u ri ng the sa Ivage
                           on the Apache, and acoustical devic6sosituated,                            of the U.S.S. Cairo, a Civil War Union ironclad,
                           on, the oceanfloor near xthe wreck,4@, xeseaircherso
                           also produced a@ detailed map of,tbe'site-                                 which sank to the bottom of the Yazoo River in
                                                                                                      Mississippi after striking a Confederate mine in
                           ingdebers that spilledoutaroutid thei', 4;,dtrr;,@,-
                                                                                                      1862. The vessel and all contents lay essentially
                           ing sinking. Two visits to the Monitorinvolved,
                                                                                                      intact beneath the river's mud and silts. What
                           of a 1,270 pound anchor in 1981                                            started in 1955 as a well-meant grass-roots ven-
                                                                                                      ture among local enthusiasts, historians, Civil War
                                                                                                      buffs, and businessmen to raise and display the
                           SOURC9. i4stiorW Oc@-ar*        Atraospheric
                                                                                                      craft caused its near-destruction and the loss of
                         0                                                 Wl-             U , @i,
                                                                                                      a significant portion of its wood and metal com-
                         ical study, but also conservation,               interpretation,             ponents as well as its cargo. The operation,
                         and display requirements in the event of exca-                               flawed by inexpert underwater survey, lack of
                         vation.17 The project is making the U.S.S. Moni-                             sufficient research, and inadequate analysis of
                         tor the centerpiece of a permanent public inter-                             technical needs, resulted in the breaking apart
                         pretation and education drive and has selected                               of the ship during lifting and virtual abandonment
                         a principal museum to curate and display artifacts                           of salvaged parts in open air storage. Only with
                         and information about the Monitor.                                           the intercession in 1977 of the National Park Serv-
                           NOAA has examined foreign efforts in under-                                ice was proper rescue, conservation, and display
                         water archaeology and maritime preservation for                              achieved.18
                           171n the event raising appears infeasible, NOAA is considering                NOAA, unlike land-managing agencies, has not
                         two alternatives for display purposes: 1) a reconstruction of the ship       established its own team of archaeologists or cul-
                         within which materials and conserved artifacts would be incorpo-             tural resource specialists but has relied during the
                         rated; and 2) replicas, one of which would be presented in an
                         aquarium-like setting, the other as a full-scale replica. These alter-         18H. Thomas McGrath, Jr., "The Preservation of the U.S.S. Cairo,"
                         natives were developed by the Harper's Ferry Center of the Na-               Underwater Archaeology. The Proceedings of the Eleventh Con-
                         tional Park Service and described in its report to NOAA, "An Assess-         ference on Underwater Archaeology, Calvin R. Cummings (ed.),
                         ment of the Interpretive Potential of the U.S.S. Monitor."                   Special Publication #4 San Marino, CA: Fathom Eight, 1982.

                                                                                                                                                                           15

                           past decade on other Federal and State agencies,                               In support of these activities, the Corps removes
                           universities, private corporations, organizations,                          nearly 300 million cubic yards of material per year
                           and individuals for interdisciplinary technical ex-                         from beneath the sands and sediments of sub-
                           pertise. For example, through interagency agree-                            merged lands, which makes dredging one of the
                           ment, NPS staffs and manages the Channel Is-                                Corps'greatest threats to archaeological remains.
                           lands and Point Reyes-Farallon Islands National                             One of the most frequently dredged areas is the
                           Marine Sanctuaries. NPS's Senior Archaeologist,                             lower Mississippi River between Baton Rouge,
                           a SCRU archaeologist, the Acting Maritime His-                              Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. Every year, the
                           torian, and staff from the NPS Harper's Ferry Cen-                          Corps dredges over 18 million cubic yards of ma-
                           ter are assisting NOAA in developing general                                terial from this waterway because of virtually con-
                           management policies for submerged cultural re-                              stant deposition of sediments.19 The Corps also
                           sources (including the U.S.S. Monitor) and man-                             confronts the problem of disposal of dredging
                           aging any archaeological materials extracted from                           products, studying their environmental effects,
                           the Monitor. Likewise, the U.S. Navy Supervisor                             and seeking ways to put them to beneficial use.
                           of Salvage and Diving is providing NOAA with                                   Many activities regulated by the Corps require
                           planning and operational assistance as well as                              authorization through three kinds of permits-
                           some of the latest undersea technologies. Also,                             individual, nationwide, and general                .20 The Corps
                           the former Director of Restoration for the Statue                           has left the issuance of permits for activities affect-
                           of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation has established                          ing historic shipwrecks to the discretion of indi-
                           the National Foundation for Maritime Conserva-                              vidual District Engineers (thirty-six within eleven
                           tion to aid the U.S.S. Monitor Project.                                     Divisions).
                           The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers                                               Two cases demonstrate that this policy has led
                              The Army Corps of Engineers, which was orga-                             to inconsistent levels of review and differences
                           nized by George Washington in 1776, has be-                                 from District to District as to the suitability of per-
                           come a major command. In addition to provid-                                mits to projects. In the instance of the Whydah,
                           i ng su pport to the fighti ng Army, it is responsi ble                     a pirate ship whose remains are being excavated
                           for the planning, design, construction, and main-                           off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, the
                           tenance of such facilities as military hospitals, bar-                      New England District Engineer issued an individ-
                           racks, commissaries, and family housing. Through                            ual permit to private salvors and entered into a
                           its Civil Works Program, the Corps is also respon-                          Memorandum of Agreement with the Massachu-
                           sible for regulating construction, expansion, and                           setts State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO)
                           alteration along the nation's coastlines and                                and the Advisory Council on Historic Preserva-
                           navigable inland waterways. It employs a num-                               tion (ACHP) in fulfillment of requirements under
                           ber of archaeologists who review the many proj-                             Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation
                           ects carried out or regulated by the Corps to as-
                           sure compliance with historic preservation laws                                9Navigation: The Role of the Corps, U.S. Army Corps of Engi-
                                                                                                       neers, October, 1983. See also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Per-
                           and regulations.                                                            mit Program: A Guide for Applicants, November, 1977, Fifteen Steps
                                                                                                       to a Civil Works Project, January, 1986, Channel Improvement and
                              The Corps mounts some of the Federal Gov-                                Stabilization on the Mississippi River, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
                           ernment's most expensive and technically com-                               October 1979, and U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers and the Environ-
                           plex projects to aid flood control and navigation.                          ment, Department of the Army, Office of the Chief of Engineers,
                                                                                                       Washington, D.C.
                           Many of these projects are potentially destruc-                                20The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues permits under the au-
                           tive to shipwrecks and other submerged archaeo-                             thority of Sec. 10 of the River and Harbors Act of 1899, Sec. 404
                           logical sites. They include harbor facility devel-                          of the Clean Water Act (Public Law 92-500), and Section 103 of
                                                                                                       the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (Public Law
                           opment, reservoir, dam, bridge, levee, dike,                                92-532). These laws, as stated in "Application for a Department
                           seawall, tunnel, island, canal, lock, and hydro-                            of the Army Permit," require permits authorizing structures and
                           electric plant construction, filling, ocean clump-                          work in or affecting navigable waters of the United States, the dis-
                                                                                                       charge of dredged fill material into waters of the United States, and
                           ing, channel improvement, and shoreline stabili-                            the transportation of dredged material for the purpose of dumping
                           zation.                                                                     it into ocean waters."

                       16

                       Act.21 The Memorandum of Agreement, negoti-                                     Minerals Management Service (MMS)
                       ated as a stipulation of the individual permit, is                                 MMS is an agency of the U.S. Department of
                       designed to ensure that excavation proceeds ac-                                 the interior formed in 1982 and given responsi-
                       cording to accepted archaeological standards.                                   bility for regulating oil, gas, and mineral exploi-
                          By contrast, the Philadelphia District Engineer                              tation on the Outer Continental Shelf. Prior to
                       authorized recovery at the site of the 18th cen-                                1982 such regulatory authority was vested in the
                       tury Dutch-built vessel DeBraak, located off the                                U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land
                       coast of Lewes, Delaware under a nationwide                                     Management. These two agencies had, since
                       permit for marine salvage. The Corps did not en-                                1974, administered a program for cultural re-
                       ter into a Memorandum of Agreement in obser-                                    sources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) (43
                       vance of Section 106, nor did it seek comment                                   U.S.C. 1331, ff).
                       by the ACHP. It deferred oversight of the salvage                                  The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amend-
                       to the State which apparently had inadequate                                    ments of 1978 prohibit "the disturbance of any
                       means to assure that properly controlled exca-                                  site, structure, or object of historical or archaeo-
                       vation at the site prevailed. As the hull was raised,                           logical significance by oil and gas exploration."24
                       it suffered severe damage and a loss of contents                                However, this Section applies only to areas con-
                       and interior features as a result of being inade-                               taining mineral-related activities, not to the en-
                       quately su pported.22 According to an analysis by                               tire OCS. The Federal Government is obliged to
                       the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP),                            locate and evaluate the significance of cultural
                       the Corps' Nationwide Permitting Program fails                                  resources before issuing permits for any actions
                       to allow for Army compliance with Section 106                                   including oil or gas leasing and development on
                       and is ineffectual for the purposes of historic pres-                           the OCS. According to a November 24, 1980 rul-
                       ervatioh. It now offers the District Engineer the                               ing of the Interior Department Solicitor, however,
                       option of either requesting ACHP comment or                                     the Federal Government can legally transfer these
                       modifying, suspending, or revoking the permit                                   responsibilities to oil and gas lessees should the
                       altogether. Some effort to correct deficiencies in                              discovery of sites within a given tract appear
                       Corps permitting of actions affecting historic ship-                            likely.25
                       wrecks has begun and involves discussions be-
                       tween NTHP and ACHP with the Corps at the                                          The OCS program requires lessees to under-
                       headquarters level. Locally, the New Orleans Dis-                               take archaeological surveys (generally 9 square
                       trict is considering a Programmatic Agreement for                               miles in area) of all blocks leased, to apply re-
                       submerged resources as part of a larger proposed                                mote sensing technology (sub-bottom profilers,
                       "Nautical Cultural Resource Management Plan."23                                 side-scan sonar, and proton magnetometers), and
                                                                                                       to avoid any areas that resu Iti ng data i nd icate may
                                                                                                       contain wrecks or other sites. During the first 5
                                                                                                       years of the OCS cultural resources program, be-
                                                                                                       fore it established positions for professional ar-
                          21 "The head of any Federal agency having direct of indirect juris-          chaeologiStS,26 many surveys were inadequate
                       diction over a proposed Federal or federally assisted undertaking               and hastily executed, but routinely accepted. In
                       in any State and the head of any Federal department or independ-                the late 1970s and early 1980s lessees objected
                       ent agency having authority to license any undertaking shall, prior             to these requirements as excessive and burden-
                       to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the un-
                       dertaking or prior to the issuance of any license, as the case may              some, Asserting that none of their surveys had re-
                       be, take into account the effect of the undertaking on any district,            vealed a site of great archaeological significance.
                       site, building, structure, or object that is included in or eligible for        The agency has attempted to address the com-
                       inclusion in the National Register. The head of any such Federal
                       agency shall afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation               panies' concerns by developing, testing, and
                       established under Title 11 of this Act a reasonable opportunity to
                       comment with regard to such undertaking."                                          24Sec. 206 (g)(3).
                          22john M. Fowler, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, per-               2'Melanie J. Stright, Federal Cultural Resources Management on
                       sonal tommunication, July, 1987.                                                the OCS, Problems and Potential, U.S. Department of the Interior,
                          23Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Memorandum of                   Bureau of Land Management, November 1981.
                       June 12, 1987.                                                                     261bid., p.2.

                                                                                                                                                                                17

                           refining a predictive model based on a pilot study                             that would allow them to recognize, from among
                           of the northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf,                              the countless ferrous objects buried beneath the
                           funded by N         PS.27   MMS established predictive                         world's waterways, those which constitute ship-
                           models of all areas where significant leasing is                               wrecks or their contents. By isolating such sites,
                           underway or expected. These models cover both                                  archaeologists could devise strategies to protect
                           shipwrecks and other submerged prehistoric sites.                              certain submerged cultural sites from destructive
                                                                                                          activities, particularly where avoidance and
                             The number of prehistoric archaeological sites                               iiground truthing," or testing may not be possi-
                           on the OCS is difficult to estimate as there is lit-                           ble .30
                           tle information on human activity during the late
                           Wisconsin glacial period               28 when such sites
                           would have been above water (about 12,000 to                                                       State Programs
                           6,000 years before present). Lately, archaeolo-                                  The State Historic Preservation Offices, as re-
                           gists have turned their attentions to inundated                                cipients of Federal monips throuizh the Historic
                           prehistoric sites on the continental shelves, be-                              Preservation Fund, act to some extent as agents
                           lieving in their potential to reveal important in-                             or extensions of the Federal Government. Yet,
                           formation on prehistoric peoples unavailable                                   as noted earlier, no uniform or comprehensive
                           from terrestrial sites-evidence concerning their                               Federal legislative framework for protecting his-
                           migrations, their food gathering habits, and how                               torically significant shipwrecks on submerged
                           they established cultural contacts in North Amer-                              lands exists to guide the States as they deal with
                           ica during periods of lowered sea levelS.29                                    often intense competition over the uses of their
                             MMS has sought to red uce the n u m ber of su r-                             submerged lands. Twenty-seven States have
                           veys required within the more than 400 million-                                enacted laws asserting coritrol over and/or owner-
                           acre OCS while maintaining an acceptable level                                 ship of cultural sites in their waters. These laws
                           of cultural resource protection through Regional                               offer differing degrees of protection. A few stipu-
                           Baseline Studies (box D). The baseline studies                        '        late stringent and detailed operational require-
                           10 in all, identify areas of the OCS that most likely                          ments through permits or contracts to control the
                           contain significant archaeological materials. With                             actions of salvors, sport divers, and archaeol-
                           the exception of the Alaska studies, which focus                               ogists.
                           on prehistoric sites, all of them discuss both pre-                             According to a recent st           udy,31 the States spend
                           historic and historic sites.                                                   approximately I percent of their total historic
                            The agency has also begun an effort to char-                                  preservation budgets on survey, evaluation, and
                           acterize all unidentified magnetic anomalies gen-                              conservation of historic shipwrecks. In 1983 (the
                           erated by proton magnetometers and recorded                                    latest year for which figures have been compiled),
                           on strip charts during lease block surveys made                                16 States spent around $3,379,253. Between
                           over more than a decade. Archaeologists have                                   1967 and 1983, 21 States reported some attempts
                           been attempting for some time to discern patterns                              at survey, totaling 296,201 acres. They discov-
                                                                                                          ered 671 historic shipwrecks, using State or Fed-
                            27See Sherwood M. Gagliano, Charles E. Pearson, Richard A.                    eral criteria. Out of 2,883 shipwrecks, 437 have
                           Weinstein, et al. (Coastal Environments, Inc.), Sedimentary Studies            been located by States, 2,299 by sport divers, and
                           of Prehistoric Archaeological Sites: Criteria for the Identification of        147 by salvors. Salvors in seven States have
                           Submerged Archaeological Sites of the Northern Gulf of Mexico
                           Continental Shelf, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park              claimed 34 wrecks. A number of coastal States
                           Service, Washington, DC, 1980. See also Coastal Environments,                  have begun to investigate historical records to de-
                           Inc., Sherwood M. Gagliano, Project Director, Cultural Resources               termine if their waters contain more wrecks than
                           Evaluation of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf, U.S.
                           Department of the interior, National Park Service, Washington, DC,
                           1977.                                                                          10Richard Anuskiewicz, Minerals Management Service, personal
                           28The geological period known as the Wisconsin glacial period                  communication, June, 1987.
                           extended from about 25,000 to 6,000 before the present.                        "Anne G. Giesecke, "The Best in State Historic Shipwreck Pro-
                           19Melanie J. Stright, "Evaluation of Archaeological Site Potential             grams," Proceedings of the Sixteenth Conference on Underwater
                           on the Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf using High-Resolution Seis-            Archaeology, Special Publication Series #4, published by The So-
                           mic Data," Geophysics, vol. 51, No. 3, March 1986, p. 605.                     ciety for Historical Archaeology, Ronald L. Michael (ed.), 1985.

                                    74-275 0 - 87 - 2 : QL 3

                           18

                                        Box D.-Regional Baseline Studies Completed for the Minerals Management Service

                                   Bering Land Bridge Cultural Resource Study,Final Report, The University Museum, University of Alaska,                                             i
                                1976.
                                   Cultural Resources Evaluation of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf, Coastal Environments,
                                Inc., 1977.
                                   An Archaeological Literature Survey and Sensitivity Zone Mapping of the Southern California Bight,
                                Science Applications, Inc., 1977.
                                   Western Gulf of Alaska Cultural Resource Study, Final Report, E.J. Dixon Jr. (ed.), 1977.
                                   Beaufort Sea Cultural Resource Study, Final Report, E.J. Dixon, Jr. (ed.), 1978.
                                   Lower Cook Inlet Cultural Resource Study, Final Report, E.J.Dixon, Jr. (ed.), 1979.
                                   Summary and Analysis of Cultural Resource Information on the Continental Shelf From Cape Hatteras
                                to Key West, Science Applications, Inc.,1981.
                                   Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf Cultural Resource Compendium, Final Report, E.J. Dixon, Jr., S. Stoker,
                                and G.,Sharma, 1986.
                                   Regional baseline studies are  based on the assumption that underwater archaeological sites do not
                                occur randomly on the seafloor.1  Submerged prehistoric sites, therefore, would be located relative to the
                                paleogeography of the OCS. Shipwrecks would probably lie in close proximity to past and present ports,
                                sea routes, weather patterns, and hazards to navigation.
                                   However, the efficacy of predictive modelling is the subject of considerable debate within the archaeo-
                                logical community. Some experts have noted that shipwrecks do occur randomly on the seafloor. For ex-
                                ample, acts of war cause shipwrecks  wherever opposing forces encounter each other. Likewise, storms
                                have sunk many vessels in the open sea, after blowing them miles from regularly traveled lanes. These
                                experts further assert that predictive models cannot adequately serve as replacements for hard data de-
                                rived from actual onsite survey. Regional baseline studies function as predictive models to identify areas
                                of the Shelf which could be expected to yield significant archaeological resources. As such, they can be
                                used as a controlled approach to locating potential sites. However, such models may miss some highly
                                significant sites that fall outside of the categories covered in the models.2
                                    Predictive modeling for the OCS is demonstrated through the following publications:
                                    Cultural Resource Evaluation of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Shelf, Coastal Environments,
                                Inc., Academic Press, New York, 1983.
                                    Sedimentary Studies of Prehistoric Archaeological Sites, Coastal Environments, prepared for the U.S.
                                Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Division of State Plans and Grants, 1980.
                                    Archaeological Investigations on the Outer Continental Shelf: A Study Within the Sabine River Valley,
                                Coastal Environments, Inc., prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Serv-
                                ice, 1986.

                                     See, for example, Sedimentary Studies of Prehistoric  ArchaeologicaI Sites, Coastal Environments, Inc., 1980, which refines the predictive model
                                 developed by Coastal Environments, Inc, for the Minerals Management Service. The rationale for this model involves a series of geochemical and
                                 sedimentological analyses to which core samples from selected onshore prehistoric archaeological sites were subjected. These analyses revealed mate-
                                 rial traces characteristic of cultural deposits.
                                     21U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Technologies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation, OTA-E-319 (Washington, DC. U.S. Gov-
                                 ernment Printing Office, September 1986),pp. 54-56.
                                 SOURCE: Minerals Management Service.

                                                                                                                                                                        19

                        are currently known. Virginia, Texas, and Cali-                              for historic vessels. The Trust, as a participant in
                        fornia have each recorded information on more                                the U.S. National Marine Sanctuary Program, has
                        than 2,000 shipwrecks off their respective coasts.                           provided NOAA with advice on public informa-
                        They must now determine what material evi-                                   tion and outreach to generate and maintain fund-
                        dence of those wrecks remains.                                               ing dedicated to protecting the U.S.S. Monitor.
                           Each State has taken its own approach to man-                             In addition, the Trust has established a Maritime
                        aging its historic shipwrecks. North Carolina em-                            Advisors Network to deal with critical questions
                        ploys a core staff to study the State's shipwrecks.                          in the field and has commented on such issues
                        South Carolina enlists the aid of hundreds of sport                          as the National Register guidelines for nominat-
                        divers and has obtained supplementary grant                                  ing historic ships and shipwrecks and current
                        funding for its underwater archaeological activi-                            maritime controversies as the salvage of the 18th
                        ties. Vermont works with the Lake Champlain So-                              century vessel H.M.S. DeBraak off the coast of
                        ciety, a private organization. Virginia funds no                             Delaware      .34 The Trust was also a key advocate
                        underwater archaeology itself, but relies on Fed-                               14 See "Treasures Lost in the Finding" The New York Times, Aug.
                        eral and private funds for its efforts. It is currently                      28, 1986. Dispute surrounds the most recent stage of excavation
                        focusing on the Yorktown shipwrecks, remnants                                at the site late in 1986. As noted, a salvage crane hauled up what
                                                                                                     remained of the ship's hull, losing artifacts it had contained in the
                        of Cornwallis' fleet scuttled in the York River dur-                         process. The hull may need to be returned to the water if the State
                        ing the Revolutionary War. The State has made                                cannot acquire funds to treat and conserve it properly.
                        effective use of volunteers, allowing public ac-
                        cess to the site for educational purposes. Michi-                                         Box E.-The National Trust for
                        gan has established underwater preserves for                                                     Historic Preservation
                        areas of special natural and cultural interest. It                                 The   National1rust for'l-listoric Preservation
                        was the "first Great Lakes state to enact specific                              whose membership numbers around 190,000 is
                        legislation regulating the salvage of shipwreck ma-                          I  a national, private, non.;profit organization char-
                        terials."32                                                                     tered by Congress in 1949 to encourage public
                                                                                                        'participation in the preservation of buildings, ob-
                                                                                                                      ites significant in American prehistory
                                            Private Programs                                            jects, andsi
                                                                                                        and' history. Support for the National I rust
                        The National Trust for Historic                                                 comes from membership dues, endowment
                        Preservation (NTHP)                                                             funds, contributions and graInts, from private                    j
                                                                                                        foundations, and the Fed ral Government. Un-                      1
                           The NTHP (box E) has, since 1976, maintained                              6.r-,der provisions,of theNational Historic Preser-
                        a Maritime program to publicize underwater ar-
                                                                                                        vation Act of 1966,' the U.S. Department of the
                        chaeology and maritime preservation issues, to                               I  Interior, thro gh the National Park Service, dis-
                        build and educate new constituencies, to award                                  burses approximately 20 percent of the Trust's
                        grants, communicate more effectively with estab-                             x,.,annual operating budget, Although it has never
                        lished constituencies, and to provide technical                                 done so, the Trust is empowered to litigate when
                        publications.33 it has also completed a maritime                                @,shipwreck sitesare inappropriately handled and
                        preservation public service video program. With                                 to advocate the preservation of shipwrecks to
                        the assistance of a private broker and financial                                governmental and private decisionmakers.
                        service firm, The Trust also sponsors a maritime                                , The Maritime Department of the National
                        heritage insurance program to assist organizations                              Trust has formed a series of working committees
                        involved in maritime heritage to obtain insurance                               to advise them on technical and-policy issues in
                                                                                                        -the field of maritime preservation. Among other
                          32 Historic shipwrecks in Michigan waters are nevertheless under              things, the Maritime Department is developing
                        considerable stress from salvors and divers. See John R. Halsey and             educational material about historic shipwrecks
                        James L. Martindale, "The Sack of the Inland Seas: Shipwreck Plun-              for State and,Federal decisionmakers, as a stimu-
                        dering in the Great Lakes," paper presented at the 52nd Annual
                        Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Toronto, May                   Aus to the protection of underwatercultural re-
                        7, 1987.                                                                        sources.
                          33For example, it has published a Directory ofMaritime Heritage
                        Resources (Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preserva-             1__ @SOL4ce National Trust for Historic Preservation.
                        tion, 1984).

                           20

                           of the Sailing School Vessels Act.'-' The Trust is                                   damage to the piles of piers and wharfs and
                           expanding its Yankee Intern PrograM36for mari-                                       wooden components of sunken vessels not
                           time activities and plans to develop a prototype                                     covered by sediments. The conservation of
                           Antiquities Act for consideration by those States                                    the Wasa over the past 25 years represents
                           still lacking specific legislation to protect historic                               a pioneering effort both in type and scale.
                           shipwrecks in their waters. It is preparing a man-                                   it established most of the techniques now
                           ual for documentation of historic maritime re-                                       governing the treatment of cultural materi-
                           sources and is also studying the possibility of I n-                                 als excavated from the deep              .39 A pro-visional
                           vestment Tax Credits for vessels as well as                                          curation, education, and display facility per-
                           incentives to encourage archaeological ly con-                                       mits public visitation.
                           trolled investigation of submerged sites.37                                             Although conservation and restoration of
                                                                                                                the Wasa represents the highest quality ap-
                                           International Efforts                                                proach and scientific know-how, recent
                                                                                                                problems place the health of the vessel in
                             Several countries have focused significant re-                                     jeopardy     .40 Rain leaking through the alumi-
                           sources on underwater archaeology and maritime                                       num shed which houses the ship has caused
                           preservation. Preservation professionals in the                                      temperature fluctuations and condensation.
                           United States view the recovery and restoration                                      This condensation has contributed to rapid
                           of the 17th century Swedish warship Wasa and                                         shrinkage of those areas of her wooden hull
                           the Tudor flagship Mary Rose as successful                                           which have apparently not received suffi-
                           models for U.S. efforts. Although they are not                                       cient treatment with the preservative poly-
                           without problems, these operations have dem-                                         ethylene glycol. Conservators ceased apply-
                           onstrated especially meticulous planning, execu-                                     ing the preservative in 1980 when it seemed
                           tion, and significant governmental funding com-                                      that the ship could no longer absorb the sub-
                           mitment.                                                                             stance. Respraying resumed after 3-inch
                                 The Wasa, a warship which sank in Stock-                                       broad cracks appeared in some places. Cu-
                                 holm Harbor in 1628, was raised by the                                         rators lament the fact that because of inade-
                                 Swedish Government in 1961. It was spec-                                       quate funding a permanent museum which
                                 tacularly well-preserved and intact after its                                  could provide the essentials of constant tem-
                                 immersion in the Baltic Sea, whose salinity                                    perature and humidity cannot be completed
                                 is too low to sustain the survival of the wood-                                until 1990. This development illustrates the
                                 borer Teredo navalis and other shipworm                      S.38              level of commitment needed for major pres-
                                 These marine creatures quickly infest and                                      ervation projects and the continuing re-
                                 feed on submerged wood, inflicting heavy                                       search required to anticipate the effects of
                                                                                                                certain treatments under changing con-
                             35Lynn Hickerson, National Trust for Historic Preservation, per-                   ditions.
                           sonal communication, August 1987.                                                    The Mary Rose, raised in 1982 by the Brit-
                             31The Yankee Intern Program is sponsored jointly by NTHP and                       ish government, was the flagship of Henry
                           Yankee Publishing, Inc. It allows college and university students                    VI I I's fleet .41 She foundered at the entrance
                           and faculty to participate in maritime-focused activities. Such activ-               to Portsmouth Harbor in 1545 while on her
                           ities include working with owners and managers of historic ships
                           and docks to complete measured drawings and restoration, instruct-                   way to engage the French fleet. The wreck
                           ing high school students in maritime historical research techniques,                 was located in 1970 after a search using a
                           and raising funds to relocate historic lighthouses threatened by shore
                           erosion, and producing slide and video presentations to educated
                           and garner the financial support of the public, foundations, and
                           other institutions.                                                             39For example, the use of polyethylene glycol as a preservative
                             37Marcia Myers, Maritime Department, National Trust for Historic            for waterlogged wood.
                           Preservation, personal communication, 1986.                                     4OSee "New Woes Assault Sweden's III-Fated Naval Monument,"
                             38Car[OlofCederlund, TheOld Wrecks of the Baltic Sea: Archaeo-              Albuquerque Journal, Jan. 1, 1987, p. DI 5.
                           logical Recordings of the Wrecks of Carvel-Built Ships, pp. 19-20,              41"The Cheesebox," The Monitor National marine Sanctuary
                           BAR International Series, Oxford, England, 1983. See also Anders              Activities Report, vol. 4, No. 1, May 1985 published by East Caro-
                           Franzen, Vasa: The Strange Story of a Swedish Warship From 1628               lina University, Department of History, Program in Maritime His-
                           (Stockholm: Bonniers Norstecits, 1963).                                       tory and Underwater Archaeology.

                                                                                                                                                                      21

                              side-scan sonar and sub-bottom acoustic                              administration are subject to the same laws, reg-
                              profiler located an anomalous signal in the                          ulations, and management policies governing
                              area in which the wreck was thought to lie.                          sites on dry land. These laws, regulations, and
                                 In raising the Mary Rose, British archaeol-                       policies are intended to shield submerged sites
                              ogists and engineers developed a specially                           from such destructive activities as mineral explo-
                              engineered recovery apparatus, the cradle                            ration and dredging, and also limit private access
                              of which was designed to continue support-                           to them if they lie within national parks and ma-
                              ing the hull in dry dock through the initial                         rine sanctuaries. However, the status of historic
                              conservation phases. It was the product of                           shipwrecks situated outside national parks and
                              extensive multi-professional collaboration.                          marine sanctuaries, is adversely affected by an
                              The Mary Rose project will serve as a test bed                       additional, highly complex body of law govern-
                              for conservation chemistry and allow chemists                        ing maritime activities, as well as ancient legal
                              to determine the best methods for conserv-                           principles, such as property ownership, admiralty
                              ing waterlogged wood             .42                                 law, and the law of finds          .44 Further complicating
                                 The Mary Rose also represents an impor-                           matters are the several different marine jurisdic-
                              tant collaboration between sport divers and                          tions (box F). Other countries such as Australia,
                              professional preservationists. The wreck was                         Canada, Cyprus, England, Norway, and Sweden
                              discovered by members of the British Sub-                            have enacted national laws regulating the man-
                              Aqua Club, who worked closely with super-                            agement of all cultural resources within the
                              vising archaeologists. Without these essen-                          waters of their outer continental shelves                  .45
                              tial volunteers, successful excavation, rais-                           Maritime salvaging tradition lies at the heart of
                              ing, and subsequent conservation would                               continuing conflict over the treatment of U.S.
                              have been i       Impossible.                                        historic shipwrecks, which has pitted private sal-
                           The relatively successful restorations of both the                      vors and State preservation officers against each
                        Wasa and the Mary Rose depended on long-term                               other. This tradition, established to motivate pri-
                        commitments by governments, preservationists,                              vately conducted rescue of vessels in peril, re-
                        and scientists to engender public interest, and to                         wards salvors for their attempts, or grants them
                        obtain reliable funding, proper research and in-                           possession of abandoned vessels and their con-
                        terpretive facilities, and access to technical ex-                         tents. However, maritime law treats both historic
                        pertise.                                                                   and modern vessels identically, considering the
                        iSSUE B. The lack of Federal legislation to de-                            time of abandonment, whether 2 or 200 years
                           termine jurisdiction over and ownership of                              ago, irrelevant.
                           historic shipwrecks has severely hampered
                           most efforts to protect them for the public.                              44Admiralty law of salvage rewards the person or persons who
                                                                                                   assist in saving a ship in peril and requires payment by its owner
                           Recent legislation        '43  and more effective en-                   of a salvage fee. if no owner is found, the ship and its contents
                        forcement of older preservation laws, have led                             may be sold to raise the award. The law of finds awards lost or
                                                                                                   abandoned property to the person or persons finding it. "The law
                        to improved protection of archaeological sites on                          of finds and the law of salvage are not always clearly distinguished
                        lands controlled by the Federal Government.                                by admiralty courts." Thompson M. Mayes, "Current Legal Issues
                        Submerged archaeological sites under Federal                               in the Law of Historic Shipwrecks," A Memorandum for the Of-
                                                                                                   fice of General Counsel, National Trust for Historic Preservation,
                                                                                                   October 1986.
                                                                                                     41See P.J. O'Keefe, Current Developments Regarding Regulation
                                                                                                   of Marine Archaeology Outside Territorial Waters, University of Syd-
                           QMargaret Rule, "The Raising of the Mary Rose," The Illustrated         ney; cited by Douglas Shallcross and Anne Giesecke, "The Status
                        London News, October 1982.                                                 of Federal and State Regulation of Underwater Cultural Resources:
                           43The Archeological and Historical Preservation Act of 1974 (Pub-       Lessons of the Treasure Salvors and Cobb Coin Cases," Underwater
                        lic Law 93-291; 88 Stat. 174) which amended the Reservoir Salvage          Archaeology: The Proceedings of the 14th Conference on Under-
                        Act of 1960 (Public Law 86-253; 74 Stat. 220; 16 U.S.C. 469-469c)          water Archaeology, 1986. See also George R. Fisher, Legal Con-
                        and The Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (Public             siderations in Underwater Archaeology, National Park Service,
                        Law 96-95; 93 Stat. 712, 16 U.S.C. 470) and the 1980 amendments            Southeast Archeological Center, Tallahassee, Fl (paper presented
                        to National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 96-515;          at the annual meeting of the Society on Underwater Archaeology,
                        Stat. 2997) among others.                                                  Philadelphia, PA, January 1976).

                      22

                                                           Box F.-The Seven Marine jurisdictions
                         U    Marine@ jurisdictions Comprise:
                              1. internal waters (those inside the coastline);
                              2. the Territorial Sea (three nautical miles from the mean low tide) in which jurisdiction is the same           I
                                as if the area were dry land, under the State governments-,
                              3. the Contiguous Zone 0 2 nautical miles from State waters) within which the Federal Government
                                controls customs, rights of passage, health regulations, military activitfies, and navigation;
                              4. the Outer Continental Shelf (the seabed beyond the Territorial Sea to slightly beyond 200 miles)
                                on which the Federal govenmentexercises controls relating to natural resource exploitation;
                              5. the High Seas, the area beyond the Outer Continental Shelf to which international law applies;
                              6, the Exclusive Economic Zone (see below); and
                              7. the fishery Conservation Zone,06 U.S.C. 1811), extending to a distance of 200 nautical miles from             I
                                the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.
                              These definitions are, for                   recognized by other nations. Further definitions cover:
                              9 Navigable inland waters are those which were navigable by any kind of vessel on the date a State
                                entered the Union. The present accepted legal definition, however, covers those waters which are
                                usable for interstate or foreign commerce. The United States controls operations on and under naviga-
                                ble inland waters, but the adjoining State owns the water and submerged beds.
                                Non-navigable in land waters-thle owner of the shoreline (riparian owner) is the owner of the water
                                and the subsurface land under it to the center of the body of water.
                              The Exclusive Economic Zone, (EEZ) is a zone contiguous to the Territorial Sea, including zones con-
                         tiguous to the territorial seas of the United States,'Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mari-
                         ana  islands (to the extent consistent*th the Covenant and the United States Trusteeship Agreement),
                         and U.S. overseas territories and possessions. The EEZ extends to a distance 200 nautical miles from the
                         baseline from which the breadth@ of the Territorial Sea, is measured. Within the EEZ the United States has,
                         to the extent permitted by international Law-
                                sovereign rightsforthe purpose*16f exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing natural resources,
                                both living and non-living, of the Seabed and subsoil and the superajacent waters and with regard
                                                    fo
                                to other activities r 'the ec'on'o'@m'-tc'@,e""xploit'ation and exploration of the zone; such as the produc-
                                tion of energy from the water, currents, and winds; and
                                jurisdiction with regard, to,the, establishment and Use of artificial islands, and the installations and
                                structures having economic purposes, and the protection and preservation of the marine environ-
                                ment, Proclamation                            Economic Zone of the United States, Mar. 10, 1983, 48
                                F.R. 10605.
                         SOURCE: Office of TechnoloSy Assessment,

                         Maritime law is in sharp contrast with preser-               devices as dredges, blowers, and explosives. They
                      vation law, in which prehistoric and historic sites             may ruin such contextual remnants as hulls, fur-
                      and objects found on public land are considered                 niture, armament, and cargo, leaving sitesunfit
                      to be held in trust by the U.S. Government for                  for proper scientific investigation, and for pub-
                      all its citizens. As such, according to a substan-              lic display and education. Because only an ex-
                      tial set of preservation laws (Table 2), cultural re-           tremely small number of wrecks contain such
                      sources on public lands must be managed for the                 desirable artifacts, their searches "have destroyed
                      public good.                                                    the archaeological potential of hundreds of
                         In the oceans surrounding the U.S. coast, pri-               historic, but not commercially promising sites."46
                      vate salvors, particularly treasure hunters, search
                      out gold and silver items, coins, jewels, and highly              46See Carol Weare, "Saving Shipwrecks: An Underwater Im-
                      valued antiquities at wreck sites, employing such               broglio," Place, December 1983.

                                                                                                                                 23

                                                                                                                                 'al
                                                                                                                               L@4

                                                                                 Photo credit: National Park Service, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

                           Submerged Cultural Resources Unit diver examines the bow of America, sunk at Isle Royale, MI, in 1928.

                                   Interest Groups                                clicates, or other business relationships.
                                                                                  Salvaging ventures have been stimulated by
                      Historic shipwrecks are the focus of three com-             liberal tax shelters for investors in limited
                   peting groups:                                                 partnerships. However, the tax reforms
                      1. Treasure Hunters.-As potential profiteers                enacted by the 99th Congress are likely to
                        from the sale of gold, silver, gems, and other            render some salvage efforts less attractive be-
                        valuables, and as successful claimants of his-            cause they place greater restrictions on the
                        toric wrecks in Florida and Texas, they are               losses investors may claim from high risk,
                        the most aggressive seekers of these fragile              limited partnerships.
                        resources, even when, as is often the case,            2. Underwater Archaeologists and Maritime
                        their quests result in financial losses  .47  Al-         Historians. -They are joined by Federal and
                        though only about a dozen treasure hunters                State Historic Preservation Officers, general
                        operate full time, their sometimes flamboy-               and nautical museum curators, and conser-
                        ant, high-risk activities have captured the               vators responsible to governmental agencies
                        public interest. They have, through assidu-               and universities for the care of recovered ob-
                        ous lobbying in Congress, been instrumen-                 jects. This group is interested primarily in
                        tal in the repeated defeats (since 1979) of               preserving and conducting research on mar-
                        earlier versions of the Abandoned Shipwreck               itime and underwater archaeological sites,
                        Act. One of the most popular means of fi-                 and interpreting them to the public. Historic
                        nancing treasure hunting explorations in-                 shipwrecks provide information on such
                        volves investors who form partnerships, syn-              subjects of historical and public interest as
                                                                                  commerce, naval warfare, exploration, and
                                                                                  vessels-their construction, cargo, passen-
                     47Anne G. Giesecke, Statement on H.R. 3558 before the House  gers, and the details of their loss at sea.
                   Subcommittee on Oceanography, Oct. 29, 1985.                3. Sport Divers.-This interest group is by far

                               24

                                      OUR

                                                                         Credit., National Trust for Historic          Ion
                                                                                                              Preservat

                                                                                   US

                                                                                                                                                Credit: Norman   Brower, National Trust for Historic Preservation

                                                                                                                                                                                                         M

                                                                                                                                                                                                                6;;,
                                                                         Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation                                                                                     _Z
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Y

                                                                                   K",

                                                   Credit: Lynn R.  Hickerson, National Trust for Historic Preservation                                           Credit: National Trust for Historic Press   .rvation
                                      Photo 1: Apprentices at the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, ME work on the planking of a traditional Maine peapod-one of
                                      many activities and exhibits available for visitors at the museum's four city-wide and waterfront sites. Photo 2: Bodie Island
                                      Light Station. Now part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. Erected 1872. Photo 3: The Eala. Double hulled
                                      voyaging canoe, Walanae, Hl. 1979 Maritle Grant reciplant, National Trust For Historic Preservation. Photo 4: Ronson ship
                                      excavation site, New York City. Archaeologists working amidships, removing ceiling planking to expose frames. Photo 5: The
                                      Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport, CT.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   25

                                                                                                                                                                                                    A

                                                               Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation

                                                                                                                                                      Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation

                                      4@

                                                                                                                                                                           -4w

                                                                                                                                                                         W,0001-777,
                                                                                                                                                                          Pro   1_0
                                                                                                                                                                                WIN.
                                                                                                                                                                 Z7
                                                                 _7

                                                  Credit: T. M. Slade, National Trust for Historic Preservation
                                                                                                                                                           ----------                       10

                                                                                                                                                                           Credit: Ray A. Williamson

                                                                            g.

                                                              Credit: National Trust for Historic Pres rvat on

                                                                                                                                                                                    Credit: U.S. Navy

                              Photo 6: The Tacoma Fireboat #11. Tacoma, Washington. Entered service, October 1929. Listed on the National Register of
                              Historic Places. Photo 7: Blackstone Canal, Providence RI. Photo 8: Historic Holland // submarine, Paterson Museum, Pater-
                              son, NJ. Photo 9: Drum Point Lighthouse and the William B. Tennison, Calvert Maritime Museum, Solomons Island, MD. Photo
                              10: The skipjack, Kathryn, Tilghman Island, MD, ready for the oyster season. Photo 11: The Romanian Bark, Mircea, taking
                              part in the bicentennial celebration off the Statue of Liberty by the tall ships, called Operation Sail.

                         26

                               the largest. The Conference on Underwater
                               Archaeology and the Society for Historical
                               Archaeology estimate that there are more
                               than 2 million sport divers in the United                                             2
                               States, many of whom find diving on wrecks
                               an enjoyable, exciting, and educational pas-
                               time. Along with fishermen, sport divers
                               locate the bulk of all shipwrecks within U.S.
                               coastal and inland waters. They collect ar-                                                                 1L
                               tifacts, and also photograph and study the
                               histories of undersea wrecks avocationally.
                               Many volunteer their services to qualified ar-
                               chaeologists. Some, however, also loot and
                               disturb sites. Sport divers strongly advocate
                               their right under protective shipwreck leg-
                               islation to legal access to submerged wrecks.
                               Their principal membership and trade orga-
                               nizations, such as the Diving Equipment
                               Manufacturer's Association, have supported
                               the latest version of the Abandoned Ship-
                               wreck Bill (H.R. 74 and S. 858).

                                  Litigation Over Ownership of
                                          Historic Shipwrecks
                           As noted earlier, in the absence of Federal leg-
                         islation to safeguard historic shipwrecks, 27 States
                         have passed antiquities statutes to broaden their                                                          Photo credit., Mitch Kezar, National Park Service
                         jurisdiction and exert regulatory control over sig-                                Sport divers begin a dive at Isle Royale National Park
                         nificant wrecks within their territorial waters (box                               on a shipwreck bouyed by the National Park Service
                         G). Yet several Federal court cases, disputed over                                                  for visiting sport divers.
                         more than a decade, have denied the States au-                                  clusive for preservation purposes because of the
                         thority to enforce their statutes. These cases, deal-                           highly inconsistent and even contradictory rul-
                         ing with competing claims to historic shipwrecks                                ings emanating from State, admiralty, and appel-
                         between commercial salvors and State preserva-                                  late courts. Treasure Salvors, Inc. v. Unidentified
                         tionists, have also called into question the valid-                             Wreck andAbandoned Sailing Vessel (cases 1,11,
                         ity not only of State governments, but the Fed-                                 and I 11) concerned efforts by the State of Florida
                         eral Government, in controlling the recovery of                                 and the Federal Government to exercise regula-
                         archaeological materials at significant sites.                                  tory control over commercial salvaging at historic
                           Two major litigations in particular have proved                               shipwreck sites on the Outer Continental Shelf
                         lengthy, complex          48costly, and ultimately incon-                       (OCS). Cobb Coin, Inc. v. Unidentified Wreck
                                                                                                         andAbandoned Sailing vessel was part of efforts
                           48See also J. Barto Arnold 111, "The Platoro Lawsuit Revisited,"              by the State of Florida to oversee recovery at
                         Underwater Archaeology. The Proceedings ofthe Fourteenth Con-
                         ference on Underwater Archaeology, Calvin R. Cummings (ed.),                    historic shipwrecks within its three-mile territorial
                         Special Publication #7 (San Marino, CA: Fathom Eight, 1986) for                 limit. The Treasure Salvors cases even involved
                         a description of the complex, expensive, and lengthy litigation proc-           claims by a rival salvor and Supreme Court inter-
                         ess in which the State of Texas has been engaged to claim, for public
                         benefit, the Espiritu Santo wreck off Padre island. its efforts proved          pretation of the merits of their claims.
                         only partially successful. The case deals primarily with State's rights,
                         specifically, permitting authority and the courts requirement that                 Treasure Salvors, Inc., after searching for the
                         it pay for or buy back one-third of all artifacts recovered.                    wrecks of the Atocha and the Santa Margarita,

                                                                                                                                                                            27

                                                                                                 i      ered nearly $6 million in artifacts and treasure
                              Box G.-State Historic Shipwreck Legislation                               from the wreck site and having learned of an un-
                                 The following States and Trust Territories have,                i      related Supreme Court decision finding that
                              since 1963, adopted legislation to ena                             '      Florida had no interest in or authority over the
                                                                                 ble man-
                                          of historic shipwrecks in their waters                        waters surrounding the Atocha site, Treasure Sal-
                              agement
                              for public benefit. Most of these laws permit, un-                        vors, Inc., severed its contract with the State. it
                              der certain conditions, some recovery of archae-                          then initiated an action in admiralty court to ob-
                              ological materials by private parties. No State has                       tain title to and possession of the wreck. Treas-
                              forbidden sport diving on historic shipwrecks                             ure Salvors asserted that in the case of an aban-
                              Alaska           .... Alaska Stat. 41.35 (1977)                           cloned vessel, the finder assumes possession
                              Arizona   ......      Ariz. Rev. Stat. 41 @841    1982)
                                                                                                        according to long-standing principles of maritime
                              Colorado              Colo. Rev. Stat 24@80@401-410
                                                    (1973)                                              law. The State fought the action and with the in-
                              Florida..   ........  Fla. Stat. Ann. 267 (Supp, 1982)                    tervention of the Federal Government claimed
                          I   Georgia . @ ......  @ Ga. Code Ann, 12.3 (1981)
                          1                                                                             ownership of the wreck. They cited the Outer
                              Guam    .......     ..,Chpt. XIII. 13905@-S
                          1   Hawaii.,            ...Hawaii Rev, Stat. 6E (1976)                        Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) which ap-
                              Indiana               I nd. Stat. Ann. 14.3.3.3-4 (Supp@                  plies to the area in which the Atocha lay and the
                                                    1983)
                                                                                                        both the Antiquities Act and the Abandoned
                              Louisiana .           La. Stat, Ann, RS 41.1601 (Supp.
                                                    1982)                                               Property Act, which reflect the concept of Eng-
                              Maine ... Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. 27. 371-378                                 lish common law on "sovereign prerogative."49
                                                    (1982)
                              Massachusetts         Mass@ Ceti, Laws Ann, 6. 179-TIJU                   Jurisdiction of the OCS is controlled by two pieces
                                                    (1974)                                              of legislation, the Submerged Lands Act (143
                              Michigan    ...       Mich. Comp. Laws. Ann. 2 .51-54,                    U.S.C 1301; Public Law 83-31) and the Outer
                          i                         (Supp. 1982)
                              Minnesota   ........  Minn. Stat. Ann. 138 (1979)                ''1      Continental Shelf Lands Act,(43 U.S.C. 1331, ft).
                              Mississippi ........  Code Ann. 39.7 (1972)
                                                                                                           The Submerged Lands Act relinquishes to the
                          i   Montana               Code Ann. 22.3.421-442 (1981)                1
                              New Hampshire., Rev. Star. Ann. 227.C, (Sypp. 1981)                       States full control over all submerged lands ex-
                              New York              Consol. Laws Ann, 14 (McKinney               i      tending to 3 nautical miles offshore, except for
                                                    1982)
                              North Carolina   ...  . Gen. Stat, 121 @22-28 (T98 1)                     the gulf coast of Florida and Texas, whose juris-
                              North Dakota    ....  . century Code 55 @021 @03.1 0 (Supp-               clictions extend 10 nautical miles.50 Separate acts
                                                    1981)                                               apply to the submerged lands of the'rerritories.51
                              Oregon    ...... .-Rev.Stat.3,58.9050983)                                 The OCSLA reserves the submerged lands on the
                              Rhode island. .       Gen. Laws 42.45.1, (1977)
                              South Carolina      ...Code of Laws Ann. 54J.40, (S'                      OCS to the Federal Government and subjects
                                                                                      UP
                                                    1982)                                               th em to administrative control by the Secretary
                              Texas   ............  Code, Ann. 191.01 (1978)
                              Vermont          ...  Stat Ann. 22.701. (1978)                            of the Interior.
                              Virginia ... ..Code 10.145, (5upp. 1983)                                     The Submerged Lands Act:
                              Wisconsin           _Stat- Ann. 27.012 (1973)
                              Northern Mariana
                                                                                                           ... confirms and establishes the titles of the States
                                 Islands                   No. 3-39 11
                                                                                                           to lands beneath navigable waters within State
                              SOURCE: Anne G. Giesecke, Joumol of Field Archaeology, "Man.
                                        agenwnt of H istoric Shipwrecks in the 1980s," 12: 10&112, c]      boundaries and to the natural resources within
                                        1985.                                                              such lands and waters, provides for the use and

                          discovered in 1971 the first of quantities of gold                               49"The Administrator of the General Services Administration is
                                                                                                        authorized to make such contracts and provisions as he may deem
                          artifacts from the Atocha wreck, submerged 9                                  for the interest of the Government, for the preservation, sale, or
                          miles. off the coast of Florida in what both the                              collection of any property or the proceeds thereof, which may have
                          company and the State believed were territorial                               been wrecked, abandoned, or become derelict. being within the
                                                                                                        jurisdiction of the United States and which ought to come to the
                          waters. Treasure Salvors, Inc., under the stipula-                            United States . . ."
                          tions of the Florida Archives and History Act, en-                               5043 U.S.C. 1301 (a)(1),(2) Submerged Lands Act.
                          tered into a contractual arrangement with the                                    "Puerto Rico: sec. 8 of the Act of Mar. 2, 1917 (48 U.S.C. 749).
                          State for the sole right to continue search and Sal-                          Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa: Sec. 1 of the Act of
                                                                                                        Oct. 5, 1974 (48 U.S.C. 1705). Northern Mariana Islands: Sec. 3
                          vage of the Atocha. In 1975, after having recov-                              of the Proclamation No. 4726, Feb. 21, 1980 (48 U.S.C. 1681).

                        28

                           control of said lands and resources, and confirms                             By contrast, in another recent case, Klein v.
                           the jurisdiction and control of the United States                          Unidentified Wreck and Abandoned Sailing Ves-
                           over the natural resources of the seabed of the                            sel, the United States Court for the Southern Dis-
                           Continental Shelf seaward of State boundaries.                             trict of Florida found for the Federal Government
                           The Act deals largely with purview and mineral                             on the issue of ownership of excavated shipwreck
                        exploitation but not with the disposition of man-                             items because they had been embedded in land
                        made or cultural objects-historic shipwrecks and                              owned by the United States and administered by
                        other submerged archaeological sites.                                         the National Park Service.
                           Federal courts upheld the claims of Treasure                                  In Cobb Coin, Inc., conflict again focused on
                        Salvors, Inc., stating that the United States                                 the State of Florida, whose submerged lands con-
                        through the OCSLA asserted ownership of and                                   tain the remains of an unknown number of Span-
                        jurisdiction over mineral and other natural re-                               ish treasure galleons from the Plate Fleet, which
                        sources, but not cultural resources. The Aban-                                sank off the Florida coast in 1715, while bound
                        doned Property Act applied only to property let                               from the New World to Europe. Cobb Coin, Inc.,
                        go or lost during the Civil War, clearly not the                              formed after the president of Treasure Salvors'
                        correct historic period of the cultural materials                             dissolved that company, began a search in 1978
                        under litigation. The courts also concluded that                              for remains of the fleet. After locating and recov-
                        the English rule of "sovereign prerogative" never                             ering artifacts thought to be part of a galleon, he
                        "took root" in America, that the "American                                    then initiated an action in Federal admiralty court
                        Rule" has prevailed, which places ownership                                   requesting either a declaration of ownership of
                        with the finder. When Treasure Salvors, Inc., in                              the shipwreck or compensation for salvage car-
                        a further action tried to compel Florida to release                           ried out at the site. Because the site lay well
                        25 percent of the treasure still retained under the                           within Florida's 3-nautical mile offshore limit, the
                        void salvage contract, the State countered by at-                             State intervened, asking the court instead to
                        tempting to bar the company's claim under the                                 declare it the owner and order restitution for all
                        11 th amendment to the Constitution. The 11 th                                items culled from the wreck. The State justified
                        amendment prohibits citizens from suing States                                its claims on the basis of its antiquities law, the
                        in Federal courts, but the Fifth Circuit Court re-                            Florida Archives and History Act and sought
                        jected Florida's action, arguing that Treasure Sal-                           criminal action against Cobb Coin, Inc.
                        vors, Inc., was not prohibited under the I ith                                  The Federal district admiralty court declined to
                        amendment because its suit was against individ-                               apply certain parts of Florida's marine archaeol-
                        uals employed by the State, not the State itself.                             ogy statute, seeing it in conflict on certain points
                           The I ith amendment, however, has been suc-                                with preemptive Federal admiralty law.15 it
                        cessfully used in Massachusetts to thwart salvors'                            deemed the State's requirement for a license to
                        maritime clai       MS.52   The court held that the State                     explore State waters in conflict with the maritime
                        had a "colorable claim of title" to the pirate ship                           principle that potential salvors or finders be free
                        Whydah, which sank off its coast in April 1717.53                             to search the open waters for salvable sites. Mar-
                        However, in a recent case testing the State's laws                            itime law clearly encourages prompt recovery of
                        regarding excavations within its coastal waters,                              goods; Florida's would accomoclate painstaking
                        a State court ruled against the State's claim. The                            and time-consuming scientific research. Florida's
                        ruling is expected to be appealed to the State Su-
                        preme judicial Court.54                                                         55Douglas Reid Weimer, Legal Issues Relating to Abandoned Ship-
                                                                                                      wrecks, Congressional Research Service, 1986 for a discussion of
                           52See, for example, Maritime Underwater Surveys, Inc. v. Uniden-           the legal issues clouding the treatment of historic shipwrecks in U.S.
                        tified, Wrecked and Abandoned Sailing Vessel, 717 F.2d 6; Suba-               waters. See also Douglas Shallcross and Anne G. Giesecke, Recent
                        queous Exploration &Archaeology, Ltd. v. Unidentified Wrecked,                Developments in Litigation Concerning the Recovery of Historic
                        andAbandoned Vessel, 577 F. Supp. 597 (d. Md. 1983); and Cobb                 Shipwrecks, Syracuse journal of International Law and Commerce,
                        Coin 1, 525 F. Supp. 186 (S.D. Fla. 1981).                                    10:371-404. See further, Douglas A. Shallcross and Anne G.
                           53Douglas Reid Weimer, Legal Issues Relating to Abandoned Ship-            Giesecke, "The status of Federal and State Regulation of Under-
                        wrecks, Congressional Research Service, 1986.                                 waterCultural Resources: Lessons oftheTreasure Salvorsand Cobb
                           54john H. Kennedy, "State Comes Up Empty in Hunt for Treas-                Coin Cases," Underwater Archaeology: The Proceedings ofthe 14th
                        ure," Boston Globe, Tuesday, May 19, 1987, pp. 19-22.                         Conference on Underwater Archaeology, 1986.

                                                                                                                                                                             29

                          law permits a licensee the exclusive right to sa.1-                           ties on the seabed more like historic properties
                          vage an area "regardless of diligence or success."                            on land and:
                          This allowance is at odds with the maritime prin-                                    assert U.S. ownership and transfers to the
                          ciple that a salvor's right to act on a wreck is valid                               States title to abandoned shipwrecks that are
                          only as long as the salvor perseveres as quickly                                     embedded in the submerged lands of a State,
                          and efficiently as possible, and is reasonably suc-                                  in coralline formations, or included in or de-
                          cessful in recovering submerged property. Florida                                    termined eligible for inclusion in the National
                          grants salvors fixed percentages of artifacts, chal-                                 Register of Historic PlaceS;59
                          lenging the maritime concept of reward based                                         declare that the laws of salvage and of finds
                          on "risk and merit." As a result, the court ruled                                    do not apply to these abandoned ship-
                          that historic shipwrecks are subject to the tradi-                                   wrecks;
                          tional admiralty law of salvage. Although the                                        specify that the Act will not affect any suit
                          courts in Cobb Coin did acknowledge the cul-                                         filed before the date of enactment;
                          tural value of historic shipwrecks and the impor-                                    confirm Federal ownership of abandoned
                          tance of their provenance to the public, they still                                  shipwrecks on Federal lands;
                          held that such value and importance do not over-                                     retain any existing Federal admiralty and sal-
                          ride long established and observed principles of                                     vage law for all shipwrecks not covered by
                          maritime law.                                                                        these bills; and
                                    The Abandoned Shipwreck                                                    direct the Advisory Council on Historic Pres-
                                                  Act of 1987                                                  ervation to develop guidelines to assist the
                                                                                                               States and the Federal Government in car-
                             Since 1979, interested parties have sought pas-                                   rying out their responsibilities and to allow
                          sage of legislation to strengthen the ability of                                     for non-injurious recreational exploration
                          States to locate, evaluate, and protect historic                                     and private sector salvage of shipwreck sites.
                          shipwrecks located within their submerged lands.                                 The bills do not effect admiralty claims for the
                          Without clear Federal legislation establishing pub-                           ownership of shipwrecks within the Nation's
                          lic interest in government ownership of historic                              waters between the 3-mile offshore State-con-
                          submerged vessels, these resources remain at risk                             trolled limit and the 200-nautical-mile limit of the
                          through the activities and claims allowed by treas-                           Outer Continental Shelf.
                          ure hunters under admiralty law.
                             Abandoned shipwreck legislation56 has been                                    While treasure hunters and others resist legis-
                          reintroduced before the 100th Congress (H.R. 74;                              lation to limit their exploitation of any shipwrecks
                          S. 858)    .57  The bills, which as introduced are                            for profit or recreation, some preservationists ex-
                          nearly identical,58 seek to treat historic proper-                            press serious misgivings about the bills because
                                                                                                        they do not explicitly prohibit salvaging at cul-
                             16The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1985 (H.R. 3558 and S. 2569)              turally significant sites. They fear that the differ-
                          failed to pass the 99th Congress.                                             ing approaches to managing submerged cultural
                             570n August 5, 1987, shortly after this background paper went
                          to press, H.R. 74 was marked up and reported out of the Ocean-                resources, legalized in 27 States so far, would ren-
                          ography Subcommittee of the House Committee on Merchantma-                    der appropriate and consistent policies difficult
                          rine and Fisheries. It must still be considered by the full commit-           to implement nationwide. They also point out
                          tee and by the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
                          The Senate'has not yet acted on S. 858.                                       that they regard as critical the ability of State pro-
                             18The markup made several important changes in H.R. 74. It now             grams to allow for the retention of artifacts. They
                          provides for an Advisory Committee to "prepare and pub-                       cite the inadequacy of models, such as Florida's,
                          lish ... guidelines for use by the States in developing legislation
                          and regulations to carry out their responsibilities under this Act."          which permits treasure hunters to contract with
                          It also provides that if, "within 5 years after the date of the enact-        the State, survey and excavate, and retain 75 per-
                          ment of this Act," a State has failed to develop a plan consistent            cent of what they find as payment for services.
                          with guidelines established by the Advisory Committee, the title
                          to a State's historic shipwrecks then reverts to the United States.
                          Finally, the markup added a provision that the Secretary ofthe In-
                          terior was responsible for managing "all abandoned shipwrecks                  "This transfer clearly resolves the issue of legal jurisdiction over
                          to which the United States reasserts title ... in a manner consist-           shipwrecks and the authority of the States to regulate salvage in
                          ent with the guidelines . . ."                                                their waters.

                        30

                        Texas' model, by contrast, is one of the few which                            Table 6.-Threats to Underwater Archaeological
                        do not allow the transfer of publicly owned                                                and Maritime ResourceSa
                        historic artifacts to private ownership.60 However,                       Natural threats:
                        as demonstrated by the cases cited above, legis-                              9Corrosion/concretion of metals
                        lative action may be necessary to impart across-                              eEarthquakes
                                                                                                      *Erosion-of the coastline, river, and stream banks
                        the-board protection for shipwrecks, which are                                *Floods
                        important elements of the heritage of the United                              *Storms
                        States.                                                                       *Subsidence
                                                                                                      *Wave action
                                                                                                      9Wood-borers
                        ISSUE C. Underwater and maritime cultural re-                                 *Volcanoes
                           sources are vulnerable to a wide variety of                            Man-made Threats:
                           natural and manmade threats.                                               eAnchoring-particularly of freighters
                                                                                                      9Federal projects -dred gi ng, naval base development,
                           Table 6 summarizes the various threats to                                   dam and reservoir construction, channelization, etc.
                        which underwater archaeological and maritime                                  9Looting
                        cultural resources are subject. Historic coastal set-                         eLack of maintenance (maritime resources)
                                                                                                      eNeglect
                        flements are jeopardized by changes in land use;                              *Non-conservation of materials recovered from
                        historic lighthouses are endangered by land sub-                               underwater
                        sidence, erosion, and neglect when technologi-                                eOil/Gas/Mineral extraction
                                                                                                      *Pipelines
                        cal advances render them obsolete as aids to                                  *Pollution
                        navigation. Historic floating vessels, if not main-                           *Salvaging/Treasure hunting
                        tained and renewed, are rendered unusable by                                  @Shellfishing
                                                                                                      *Shore facility expansion -ports, marinas, recreation
                        the rapid spread of rot and rust. "Ships are less                              areas, airports
                        accomodating than buildings, which can stand                                  oSport diving
                                                                                                      *Vandalism
                        untouched for generations and survive.1161 In                             aNot listed in priority order.
                        addition, traditional boatbuilding and navigation                         SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.
                        skills are being lost as a result of the introduc-
                        tion of modern technology in the practice of these
                        skills.                                                                   technologies and, in recent years, gained access
                           Prehistoric sites close to shore are damaged by                        to many significant sites. Table 7 lists a few sig-
                        wave action and by oil and gas exploration when                           nificant historic shipwrecks that have been ex-
                                                                                                  ploited for treasure. Shipwrecks are attracting the
                        they lie on the Outer Continental Shelf. As noted                         interest of increasing numbers of groups and in-
                        earlier, treasure salvors can inflict grave damage                        dividuals able to invest in underwater explora-
                        to historic shipwrecks and may, in the process                            tion. One of the most dramatic examples involves
                        of searching out and extracting treasure and other                        the R.M.S. Titanic, which is located 21/2 miles be-
                        commercially valuable features or contents, com-                          low the surface in international waters, about 350
                        pletely destroy them and any significant archaeo-                         miles southwest of Newfoundland. An American
                        logical information they might convey.                                    oil company executive and a Hollywood broad-
                           Even though many treasure salvors cannot af-                           casting group, among others, are collaborating
                        ford the kinds of sophisticated and powerful re-                          with scientists from the Institute for Research and
                        mote sensing locational techniques developed for                          Exploitation of the Sea, an agency of the French
                        the space program and the oil, gas, and mineral                           government, to retrieve artifacts and open three
                        industries, a few have acquired other marine                              safes from the wreck. The project, which will in-
                                                                                                  volve spending at least $3 million, will consist of
                           60Daniel J. Lenihan, National Park Service, personal communi-          a series of 10 dives by miniature submarine, and
                        cation, March 1987.                                                       broadcasts of the event I ive from the seafloor. The
                           61Statement of Marcia Myers, Vice President for Maritime Pres-         project's expedition team has used a three-man
                        ervation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, before the Sub-       mini-sub to retrieve a leather, "doctor's-style va-
                        committeeon National Parks and Public Landsofthe HouseCom-
                        mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs, on H.R. 1044, a bill to establish lise" filled with jewels, bank notes and other val-
                        the National Maritime Museum at San Francisco, March 26, 1987.            uables, and a safe which is believed to have be-

                                                                                                                                                                    31

                            Table 7.- Representative Historic Shipwrecks                           chaeological research but of little or no commer-
                                           Exploited for Treasure                                  cial value.65

                         � Espiritu Santo: One of the 1554 New Spain fleet                            Treasure salvors who have become aware of
                           wrecks located off Padre Island, Texas;                                 the importance of historical research, may con-
                         � Nuestra Senora de Atocha: A 16th century Spanish
                           galleon off the Florida Keys;                                           tract for the study of historical documents such
                         � Whydah: An 18th century English pirate ship off the                     as those found within two particularly rich ar-
                           coast of Massachusetts;
                         � H.M.S. DeBraak: An 18th century Dutch-built English                     chives-El Archivo General de Indias in Seville,
                           privateer off Lewes, Delaware;                                          Spain, and El Archivo General de [a Nacion in
                         � Nuestra Senora de la Maravilla: a large 16th century                    Mexico City, Mexico. These archives, which are
                           Spanish galleon 50 miles north of Grand Bahama
                           Island.                                                                 highly valued for a broad range of historical re-
                         SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.                            search, contain thousands of records from the
                                                                                                   16th through the 19th centuries on all aspects of
                         longed in the ship's assistant pursor's office           .62  The         exploration, seafaring, and trade sponsored by
                         recovery venture began in the summer of 1987,                             the Spanish crown in the New World. Much of
                         with completion scheduled for September 10.                               this documentation provides detailed information
                                                                                                   on the passengers and cargos carried by the ships
                           Recovery of items from the R.M.S. Titanic is be-                        that traveled back and forth between Europe and
                         ing protested by many who believe that the site                           the Americas, as well as on disasters at sea.66
                         should remain untouched as a memorial to those
                         who perished in the ship's sinking.63 Others ar-                          ISSUE D: There is a critical need for a Federally
                         gue that items from the Titanic possess histori-                             sponsored facility for underwater archaeol-
                         cal value precisely because they come from the                               ogy and maritime preservation.
                         shipwreck and that salvage operations should                                 Most participants in the OTA study urged the
                         continue on the basis that international law pro-                         formation of a federally funded institution
                         vides for the salvage of vessels lost at sea                .64           devoted to providing:
                           Some treasure salvors employ archaeologists                                *  accurate information on current preservation
                         to oversee or carry out tasks that can minimize                                 technologies for the research, location, anal-
                         damage to sites. Many archaeologists, however,                                  ysis, and management of prehistoric and
                         believe that the basic goals and interests of ar-                               historic structures, objects, and sites;
                         chaeological research and treasure salvaging are                             0  information on technologies developed in
                         inherently antithetical, and that when profit is the                            other fields for possible application to pres-
                         motive for exploitation of shipwrecks, scientific                               ervation, name ly-tech no logy transfer;
                         research and the shipwrecks themselves must in-                              e  training in preservation technologies;
                         evitably suffer. Particularly when excavation of                             9  ongoing research;
                         a wreck requires the application of expensive                                e  conservation laboratories;
                         technology, or the salvor is operating on a spec-                            e  interdisciplinary teams capable of interven-
                         ulative financial shoestring, as many do, it is likely                          ing on an emergency basis in response to
                         that the recovery of objects having financial value                             particular technical preservation problems;
                         will take priority over the recovery and conser-                             e  a clearinghouse for preservation project in-
                         vation of material that may be priceless to ar-                                 formation (Federal, State, local, private) to
                                                                                                         expedite coordination; and
                                                                                                      *  the leading technical preservation database.

                         "Ken Ringle, "Breathtaking Collection of jewels Discovered at
                         Titanic Site," Washington Post, Friday, August 21, 1987.                   65Thomas F. King, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, per-
                         63"Television Special From Titanic Is Planned," New York Times,           sonal communication, 1987.
                         February 1987.                                                             66Stanley Hordes, Historical Consultant, personal communica-
                         64See, for example, William F. Buckley, Jr., "Let Them Sell the           tion, 1986. See also "Translated Documents Capture Ambience and
                         Titanic's 'Treasure,"' Washington Post, August 17, 1987, p. A19,          Aroma of the Nina," The New York Times, Oct. 14, 1986.

                     32                                 1

                       The facility could be either fully or partially           archaeologists have learned of methods adapted
                     funded by the Federal Government, in keeping                from other disciplines to enhance their research.
                     with its long-standing role as the Nation's prin-
                     cipal conservation   iSt.67 It would include within           Research and development are crucial to the
                     its agenda technologies for underwater archaeol-            transfer of technologies developed for other sci-
                     ogy and maritime preservation.                              entific and engineering purposes to the disciplines
                                                                                 of underwater archaeology and maritime pres-
                       A center for preservation technology would                ervation. The technologies developed for other
                     likely encourage closer interactions among un-              fields may need considerable adaptation before
                     derwater archaeologists, maritime preserva-                 being applied to archaeological research and
                     tionists, dry-land archaeologiStS,611 historians, sci-      preservation. Underwater archaeologists would
                     entists, and engineers. It would be the primary             benefit by more actively injecting themselves into
                     source to which individuals could look for state-           R&D processes. Their record in exploiting tech-
                     of-the-art technical information for all relevant           nical advances made in other disciplines has been
                     disciplines in the field. A center could also take          spotty, largely because aspects of these advances
                     advantage of the expertise built up within, for ex-         are still very expensive. However, there exist mid-
                     ample, the National Park Service's Submerged                dle range devices, not quite so sophisticated, that
                     Cultural Resources Unit (SCRU) a valuable source            universities or Federal agencies could develop.
                     of technical advice and publications on the pres-
                     ervation of submerged archaeological and mari-                          Technology Sharing
                     time sites.
                       Perhaps most important, a center could                      Many archaeologists have not cultivated Fed-
                     strengthen the partnership among Federal, State,            eral agencies or private organizations as assidu-
                     and local government and private enterprise                 ously as they might have to explore the possibil-
                     established by the National Historic Preservation           ities of sharing experts and equipment. Yet the
                     Act of 1966 and its amendments of 1980. En-                 Navy is often very appreciative of archaeologi-
                     hanced communication should stimulate closer                cal expertise in such programs as its Submarine
                     coope  Iration and greater coordination of research,        Development Group. It runs manned and un-
                     project planning, and technology sharing.                   manned deep-water submersibles and remotely
                                                                                 operated vehicles to depths as great as 20,000
                       Such organizations as the Society for Archaeo-            feet. It also operates the U.S.S. Pigeon (ASR-21)
                     logical Sciences and the Association for Preser-            which is capable of deploying saturation divers
                     vation Technology were founded specifically to              to depths as great as 850 feet. The vessel has sup-
                     promote the development and use of new tech-                ported scientists during many deep dives to col-
                     nologies in the research and conservation of pre-           lect specimens for biological-oceanographic re-
                     historic and historic cultural resources. These and         search. The group's charter obligates it to support
                     other such groups, however, have not directed               and aid civilian scientists, such as geologists from
                     much attention toward problems in underwater                institutions of oceanography. Some of its person-
                     archaeology and maritime technology. Likewise,              nel and equipment were involved surveys of the
                     although the American Association for the Ad-               U.S.S. Monitor and R.M.S. Titanic.
                     vancement of Science attracts a broad member-                 A recent example of technology sharing which
                     ship, including social, as well as natural, scien-          benefited underwater archaeology occurred dur-
                     tists, it is not the locus within which underwater          ing the summer of 1986 between the National
                                                                                 Park Service and the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor,
                       67See Technologies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation, Ch. Hawaii. Teams from the Park Service and the
                     7, "Technology and Preservation Policy" for a discussion on sev- Navy Reserve's Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit
                     eral approaches to structuring such a facility.             One (MDSU ONE) examined and mapped the
                       68See Richard A. Gould, Shipwreck Anthropology (Albuquerque, hulks of the battleships U.S.S. Arizona and U.S.S.
                     NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1983) for discussions of the
                     slow acceptance of shipwreck archaeology within archaeology and Utah, which had been destroyed in the Japanese
                     anthropology.                                               attack on the Island of Oahu, December 7,1941.

                                                                                                                                                                   33

                       The collaboration assisted both agencies; the Park                        sity's Institute of Nautical Archaeology, East Caro-
                       Service acquired new information for better long-                         lina University in North Carolina, and Arizona
                       term maintenance of the wrecks at the Pearl Har-                          State University could then be linked to the tech-
                       bor National Historic Landmark site and the Navy                          nology information network operating from it.
                       conducted diver training exercises. This pilot                            These two programs offer students the opportu-
                       project has led to further cooperation between                            nity to earn degrees at the masters level. No
                       the two agencies. In May and June of 1987, Na-                            university offers a degree in maritime preserva-
                       val Reserve divers from MDSU ONE trained at                               tion .70
                       the Ship Repair facility in Guam, by working with                           Oceanographic Institutions (table 8) employ
                       Park Service staff from SCRU to survey World                              many kinds of research vessels in conducting
                       War I and 11 historic shipwrecks on Navy prop-                            both publicly and privately supported marine sci-
                       erty. These efforts will also aid the Naval Station                       entific projects at sea. Much of their work should
                       in fulfilling its historic preservation obligation            5.69
                                                                                                 be of interest to archaeologists.
                       Communicating With Universities and                                         The joint Oceanographic Institutions, for ex-
                                Oceanographic Institutions                                       ample, is a consortium of 10 U.S. academic
                                                                                                 oceanographic institutions and four foreign in-
                         Some experts have expressed the desire for a                            stitutions (France, Japan, Canada, and Germany)
                       stronger academic base in support of underwater                           that coordinates and facilitates the work of indi-
                       archaeology and maritime preservation, and have                           vidual institutions on large oceanographic re-
                       suggested that these subjects be included in the                          search projects. joint Oceanographic Institutions,
                       various historic preservation programs offered                            Inc. is the systems manager of the member insti-
                       throughout the country. Enhanced communica-                               tutions and subcontracts operating activities to
                       tions between the universities offering programs                          other academic institutions and industrial groups
                       in underwater archaeology and maritime pres-                              as well as its members. At present, under the
                       ervation and the scientific and engineering de-                           Ocean Drilling Program the consortium is analyz-
                       partments of other institutions could result from                         ing core samples to study the structure and his-
                       a center for preservation technology. Such pro-                           tory of the earth beneath the oceans for evidence
                       grams as those established at Texas A & M Univer-                         of ancient ocean and climatic conditions, as well
                                                                                                 as tectonic plate movement. The progress of such
                                                                                                 projects could be followed by a technical pres-
                       69J.K. Otto Orzech, University of California, San Diego, Scripps          ervation center, and the results disseminated
                       Institution of Oceanography, personal communication, March 1987.
                                                                                                 among archaeologists.

                                                                                                  701-ynn Hickerson, National Trust for Historic Preservation, per-
                                     V 11F t                                                     sonal communication, August 1987.

                                                                                                      Table 8.-U.S. Oceanographic Institutions
                                                     WT
                                                                                                 Duke  University
                                                                                                 Johns Hopkins University
                                                                                                 Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory
                                                                                                 Oregon State University
                                7-;
                                                                                                 Scripps Institution of Oceanography
                                                                                                 Texas A & M University
                                                                                                 University of Alaska
                                                                                                 University of Georgia
                                                                                                 University of Hawaii
                         Photo credit: National Park Service, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit  University of Rhode Island
                                                                                                 University of Southern California
                         U.S. Navy Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Reservists                     University of Washington
                         and the National Park Service Submerged Cultural                        Woods Hole    Oceanographic Institution
                          Resources Unit cooperate to map U.S.S. Arizona.                        SOURCE: Office of Technology Assessment, 1987.

                           34

                               There is a great need for more underwater ar-                            vessels and small craft are listed in the National
                           chaeological and conservation training programs.                             Register of Historic Places, a compilation of over
                           In current graduate programs, there are neither                              45,000 prehistoric and historic structures, objects,
                           sufficient emphasis on the assimilation of a large                           and sites. The total number of shipwrecks is un-
                           technological component nor opportunities for                                known; only 41 are listed on the National Regis-
                           retraining professional archaeologists in the latest                         ter. Listings range from individual wrecks such
                           methods. A preservation technology center could                              as the CS.S. Florida, a Confederate, British-built
                           help achieve that end by highlighting, in addi-                              sail-steamer sunk in 1864, to the 15 to 25 Amer-
                           tion to its own activities, those conducted at the                           ican Revolutionary War ships of the Penobscot
                           Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M                               Expedition sunk off the Maine coast in 1779. The
                           University. Such facilities as the Conservation                              site of the U.S.S. Monitor is a National Historic
                           Center of the Institute of Fine Arts in New York,                            Landmark as well as a National Marine Sanctu-
                           Cooperstown Graduate Programs in Conserva-                                   ary. Of only 32 vessels designated as National
                           tion and Artistic Works in New York, and The                                 Historic Landmarks, 22 are of World War 11 vin-
                           Winterthur/University of Delaware Art Conser-                                tage. Warships outnumber trade vessels listed on
                           vation Program in Delaware provide training in                               the Register. Shipwrecks illustrating American his-
                           the conservation of bone, ivory, wood, leather,                              tory from the age of Spanish exploration to World
                           pottery, gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron and                           War 11 are included, but neither prehistoric craft
                           metal alloys. However, they do not concentrate                               nor common fishing vessels are listed.73
                           on once-submerged materials, and the special                                    Twenty years have passed since enactment of
                           problems associated with stabilizing and main-                               the National Historic Preservation Act. Yet, the
                           taining such items as hulls or encrusted iron can-                           first serious effort to undertake a computer-based
                           non and anchors           .71                                                resource survey did not begin until 1986, with
                           ISSUE E: The lack of National and State inven-                               the National Maritime Initiative. The Federal Gov-
                               tories has seriously impeded efforts to pro-                             ernment long ago gave up a valuable opportu-
                               tect underwater archaeological sites and mar-                            nity to identify, study, document, and record
                               itime historical resources.                                              thousands of ships and other water-going craft
                               "The United States has not undertaken a na-                              when it disbanded the Historic American Mer-
                           tional inventory of underwater cultural materi-                              chant Marine Survey (HAMMS) only 18 months
                           als which include submerged terrestrial sites as                             after its formation during the New Deal in 1937.
                           well as shipwrecks. Although some States have                                Its sister program, the Historic American Build-
                           made substantial progress in surveying their own                             ings Survey (HABS) has, in 53 years, documented
                           coasts, lakes, and rivers and locating submerged                             and recorded thousands of buildings and other
                           cultural resources, no States have comprehen-                                structures.74
                           sive data on file.1172        No more than 162 historic                         The first phase of the National Maritime Initia-
                                                                                                        tive's survey is a compilation of known lists and
                               71Lynn Hickerson, National Trust for Historic Preservation, per-         inventories from a variety of sources scattered
                           sonal communication, August 1987.                                            among the maritime community. It includes list-
                               72See U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, Technol-
                           ogies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation (Washington, DC:             ings from the South Street Seaport Museum in
                           Government Printing Office, September 1986). Several participants            New York, the International Congress of Mari-
                           in the OTA assessment noted the irony inherent in the States sur-            time Museums, the World Ship Trust, the Na-
                           veying their waters for cultural materials. If States do not dedicate
                           the necessary resources toward protecting them after discovery,              tional Register of Historic Places, and the National
                           they are in danger of loss. Typically, State law enforcement agen-           Trust for Historic Preservation. Thus far, the sur-
                           cies are scarcely aware of archaeological protection statutes,
                           whether Federal of local. inventorying must become part of a com-
                           prehensive program that also includes adequate law enforcement.              in identifying shipwrecks in Lake Superior. At their current alloca-
                           The National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers              tion level ($345,332 less 10 percent entitlement to local govern-
                           (NCSHPO) notes that over the past20yearsthe Departmentofthe                  ments) the SHPO cannot undertake the task.
                           Interior could have advocated more funding for meaningful State                71Anne G. Giesecke, Statement on H.R. 3558 before the House
                           surveys at "realistic levels." The organization cites Minnesota, for         Subcommittee on Oceanography, Oct. 29, 1985.
                           example, a State whose historic preservation staff is most interested          74Editor's Column, "Listing Ships," Preservation News, June 1986.

                                                                                                                                     35

                   vey covers one maritime resource category out                Shipwreck Reference File as a possible model.
                   of eight identified, namely, preserved historic              The Texas file is based on information culled from
                   vessels over 40 feet long, and over 50 years old             both historic and contemporary sources such as
                   (table 8).                                                   maps and field reports. It should help determine
                     Certain types of maritime historical resources             the locations of unidentified wrecks. The file has
                   are addressed under current HABS/HAER (His-                  been useful in justifying the employment of non-
                   toric American Engineering Record) standards                 destructive surveys in the face of potentially de-
                   and guidelines for documenting and recording                 structive Federal activity, such as dredging or
                   structures and buildings. Prehistoric and historic           harbor facility expansion. Since 1972, the Com-
                   shipwrecks and other vessels are not. Neither are            mission has listed over 1,000 shipwrecks, of
                   they addressed by standards or guidelines for res-           which approximately one-half have proved his-
                   toration, conservation, or maintenance. Such                 tori C. 75
                   standards and guidelines are planned under the                 The State of Maryland has begun a survey of
                   National Maritime Initiative, as well as guide-              its maritime resources. As noted earlier, the
                   books on national inventory format to serve Fed-             Chesapeake Bay Watercraft Survey, completed
                   eral agencies, State Historic Preservation Offices,          in 1982, led to the nomination of the Skipjack
                   historical societies, preservation constituencies,           fleet to the National Register. The Patuxent River
                   and others. This level of technical assistance,              Project, which was begun in 1978, has gathered
                   along with the publication, National Register                physical and documentary information in a sys-
                   Bulletin #20, "Nominating Historic Vessels and               tematic survey that has included shipwrecks,
                   Shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic              wharfs, ferry landings, and inundated shore areas.
                   Places," is designed to increase National Regis-             The project has carried out an oral and visual his-
                   ter listings of maritime resources.                          torical documentation of the maritime heritage
                     A stated objective under The Maritime Initia-              along the river and created an exhibit of artifacts
                   tive relates to closer interaction between the Fed-          representing the commercial fishing activities
                   eral Government and the States in correcting defi-           throughout the estuary.76
                   ciencies in cultural resource inventories. Both
                   levels of government have neglected underwater                75]. Barto Arnold, III, "Underwater Cultural Resource Manage-
                   archaeological and maritime resources in their               ment: The Computerized Shipwreck Reference File," Underwater
                   inventories. All inventories will be computerized            Archaeology: The Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on Un-
                                                                                derwater Archaeology, Calvin R. Cummings (ed.), (San Marino, CA:
                   eventually. Government agencies now have a                   Fathom Eight, 1982) pp. 85-95.
                   chance to develop fully compatible databases,                 76Ralph E. Eshelman, Calvert Marine Museum, personal commu-
                   and might examine the efforts of the Texas State             nication, 1987.
                   Antiquities Commission to computerize their

                                  TECHNOLOGY, UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY, AND
                                                        MARITIME PRESERVATION

                       Although haphazard and unpredictable, a va-              which sank around 1200 B.C. in Cape Gelidonya
                     riety of simple techniques and random searches             and on several wrecks near Yassi Ada that date
                     have yielded many important underwater ar-                 from the fourth and seventh centuries A.D.79
                     chaeological finds through the years, particularly           The "high technology" on which underwater
                     in northern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and             archaeology is most dependent includes a group
                     more recently in the waters off the States of Texas        of highly sophisticated, costly,80 locational instru-
                     and Florida. Some of these strategies have in-             ments designed primarily for the oil and mineral
                     cluded interrogating local divers and fisherman            extraction industries and military missions-side-
                     or operating hand-held coring devices from small           scan sonar, sub-bottom profiler, proton magne-
                     boats. As early as 1664, only 30 years after the           tometer, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
                     sinking of the Wasa in Stockholm Harbor, Hans              These technologies have opened up vast areas
                     Albrekt von Treileben of Sweden and Andreas                for exploration previously unavailable to ar-
                     Peckell, a German salvor, employed a primitive             chaeologists, particularly in the deepest parts of
                     diving bell to recover artifacts from the wreck.           the oceans. Of course, technological applications
                     Struggling in 100 feet of bitterly cold black water,       extend beyond the search and identification
                     the pair recovered many items, including 30                phases of any underwater archaeological or mar-
                     bronze cannon, each weighing between I and                 itime preservation project. They also encompass
                     2 tons. It was an underwater technical feat that
                                                                                preliminary research, excavation, mapping, re-
                     was not matched until the end of the 19th cen-             cording, documentation, restoration and stabiliz-
                     tury.77                                                    ing sites in situ, as well as conserving recovered
                       In the early 1940s, Jacques Yves Cousteau and            cultural materials. Although the solutions to sav-
                     Emile Gagnan perfected the aqua-lung with its              ing delapiclated historic floating vessels, under at-
                     self-contained underwater breathing apparatus              tack from neglect and weather, do not require
                     (SCUBA). It was a revolutionary improvement                complicated technology, they are nevertheless
                     over bulky, restrictive hard-hat diving gear, which        expensive because they are generally labor in-
                     could not permit genuine archaeological activ-             tensive and require special training.
                     ity. Since the end of World War 11, SCUBA, port-
                     able and easy to use, has permitted the kind of                         Technology Transfer
                     underwater mobility necessary to archaeologists.
                     It has also made more of the world's waterways               For the most part, advances in the locational
                     accessible to treasure hunters, and collectors of          technologies applied to preservation have been
                     antiquities .78Not until the 1960s was the utility         driven by the oil, gas, and minerals industries and
                     of SCUBA in over 30 meters of water tested and             the Federal Government, rather than by under-
                     proper excavation and site recording carried out.          water archaeologists, whose budgets are mod-
                     A University of Pennsylvania Team led by George            est.81 The tailoring of those technologies to ar-
                     Bass demonstrated the effectiveness of SCUBA               chaeological requirements has occurred largely
                     and pioneered the development and application              through the efforts of professionals in the oil and
                     of technologies for use both underwater and in             mineral business, geophysical survey, or the U.S.
                     the conservation lab. They were first employed             Navy who possess keen personal interest in solv-
                     in a series of research and excavation projects
                     off the coast of Turkey on a Bronze Age ship                79George F. Bass, Archaeology Beneath the Sea (New York, NY:
                                                                                Walker & Co., 1975).
                                                                                 8OSee Technologies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation for
                                                                                examples of equipment costs, p. 155.
                                                                                  81The relatively high costs of these technologies deter underwater
                       7'Anders Franzen, Vasa: The Strange Story ofa Swedish Warship archaeology. For an overview of what these costs can be, see U.S.
                     From 1628 (Stockholm: Bonniers-Norstedts, 1963).           Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, OTA-E-319, Technol-
                       78Keith Muckelroy, Maritime Archaeology (Cambridge, MA: Cam- ogies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation (Washington, DC:
                     bridge University Press, 1978).                            U.S. Government Printing Office, September, 1986), p. 155.

                     36

                                                                                                                                 37

                  ing marine technological problems. They have,              able technologies or the development of new
                  at times, donated equipment and services to                ones to meet selected needs. Such a progression
                  underwater archaeological projects throughout              is rarely followed in archaeology, a highly spe-
                  the world. Some adaptations are also sparked by            cialized discipline chronically short of funds to
                  archaeologists who keep abreast of technologi-             support systematic R&D efforts.
                  cal trends. In addition, as their field grows in com-        Experts contacted by OTA cautioned that the
                  plexity, more archaeologists have realized the             latest underwater locational devices cannot, of
                  value of acquainting themselves with the capa-             themselves, ensure project success. Some users
                  bilities and limitations of available scientific and       often select equipment because it is available, not
                  engineering technologies. Technological devel-             because it is appropriate, or they lack the train-
                  opments must generally be subsidized by grants             ing and experience to operate it properly. "Run-
                  because underwater archaeology has not proved              ning a sonar search with inadequate navigational
                  a strong enough market for generating commer-              control ... could lead to failure ... both too
                  cial innovations in technology. As one participant         much or too little technology can be a prob-
                  in the OTA study noted, "there is a hit-or-miss            lem .1182
                  aspect to all of the above ... Technology will be
                  transferred if someone is interested or an ar-
                  chaeologist reads the right journal." Ideally, a log-        82Charles Mazel, "Technology for Marine Archaeology," Ocea-
                  ical progression governs the modification of avail-        nus, vol. 28, No. 1, spring 1985, pp. 85-89.

                          TECHNOLOGIES FOR SURVEY, IDENTIFICATION, NAVIGATION,
                                     EXCAVATION, DOCUMENTATION, RESTORATION,
                                                            AND CONSERVATION

                        Preliminary research undertaken carefully be-            netic tape for post-processing and      analysis. The
                      fore any project can save time and money, and              signals produce excellent images of the floor's to-
                      also provide a focus for applying technologies in          pography, including structures and shipwrecks,
                      the field and a basis for evaluating cultural sig-         but cannot detect materials covered by sedi-
                      nificance. Developments in various kinds of ar-            ments. The side-scan sonar can cover wide areas
                      chival technology, for example, can make rec-              of the ocean bed, enabling the quick and ac-
                      ord searches more efficient and cost-effective,            curate mapping of such geological phenomena
                      although they have not yet been brought to bear            as drowned river systems. It is portable, battery-
                      on the types of widely scattered information of            powered, and can be operated from small boats
                      value to underwater archaeologists and maritime            to enable searches in difficult or remote loca-
                      preservationists.                                          tionS.83
                        As noted under Major Issues, underwater                     The sub-bottom profiler84 uses low-frequency
                      archaeologists require a substantial array of tech-        sound (3.5 to 12 kilohertz) to penetrate ocean
                      nologies to work in often difficult and perilous           bottom sediments. It directs acoustical signals
                      conditions. These help them find, record, and re-          downward beneath its towing vessel. Where dif-
                      cover components of submerged cultural sites               ferent layers of sediment meet, some fraction of
                      and cope with formidable limitations on breath-            the incident acoustic energy is reflected to the
                      ing, seeing, moving, and communicating in fre-             vessel, while the rest continues downward. The
                      quently'cold, dark, rough, and turbid envi-                device generates a cross-sectional view of the
                      ronments.                                                  oceanfloor on strip charts, revealing sediment
                                                                                 layers and underlying bedrock. Buried hulls7show
                               Identification and Survey                         up as localized anomalous reflections below the
                                                                                 bottom. Resolutions of less than a meter are pos-
                        Surveys made with the first three of the four            sible. Sub-bottom profilers, designed originally for
                      following remote sensing methods result in elec-           use in deep water can now operate in as little
                      tronic records, patterns of images, or signals in          as 3 meters of water. Because they cover only
                      either analog strip charts or digital records. These       narrow paths, they must make many closely
                      images indicate both normal and anomalous bot-             spaced sweeps per survey tract.
                      tom and sub-bottom phenomena. As in land ar-                 Magnetometers sense magnetic field anoma-
                      chaeology, the character of sources of anoma-              lies created by ferrous materials on the ocean-
                      lous signals can only be determined through                floor. Therefore they can only locate shipwrecks
                      examination in situ. It is important for underwater        and other historic sites containing such metals.
                      archaeologists to continue building a "catalog"            Their ma or shortcoming is that they must remain
                      of representative signals matched with specific                      i
                      anomalous image sources in order to examine                relatively close to their target because its mag-
                      and test new underwater contexts such as estu-             netic field attenuates rapidly as the distance
                      aries and deep water more effectively and effi-            between them and magnetometric sensors in-
                      ciently.                                                   creases. Magnetometers cannot easily trace weak
                                                                                 signals or anomalies, such as those detected from
                        The side-scan sonar sends out acoustic fre-              under sediments, to their sources. Greater use
                      quency signals from a torpedo-shaped towfish lo-
                      cated beneath a survey ship. Reflected signals re-
                      ceived by the towfish then travel through the tow            81C.J. Ingram, "High-Resolution Side-Scan Sonar/Sub-bottom
                      cable, and are processed on board the survey ves-          Profiling to 6,000 Meter Water Depth," paper presented at the Pa-
                                                                                 cific Congress on Marine Technology, Hawaii, Mar. 24-28, 1986.
                      sel in a graphic recorder, which produces hard-              84Milton B. Dobrin, Introduction to Geophysical Prospecting (New
                      copy output. They can also be recorded on mag-             York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1976.)

                      38

                                                                                                                                                               39

                                                                                                                     7,77@,;'711 77

                                                                                @N@-@ -;Q

                                                                                                                                                   114i

                                                                                                                                          N 1-M

                                                                                                                           Photo credit., Garry Kozak, Klein Associates
                        Side-scan sonar of the The Atlantic, a wooden side-wheel U.S. steamship sunk in 1852, in the Canadian waters of Lake
                                  Erie. The ship rests nearly upright, 160 feet below the surface. Because it lies in cold, freshwater,
                                                                         it is remarkably well-preserved.

                     of airborne magnetometry could lead to faster,                           needs of the military and oil, gas, and minerals
                     broader, and more accurate coverage within sur-                          exploration companies, they are replacing human
                     vey perimeters.                                                          divers in a great many underwater tasks. They can
                       Remote sensing from aircraft and space, when                           remain submerged for weeks to survey huge
                                                                                              areas of the oceanfloor. For example, the historic
                     it is refined to penetrate more deeply below the                         discovery of the wreck R.M.S. TitaniC87                 in April
                     water's surface, could be applied to underwater                          1986 was achieved through an unmanned craft,
                     archaeological site identification and manage-                           the Argo, tethered to a ship by 13,000 feet of ca-
                     ment, as it has been to hydrography.85                                   ble. Outfitted with television cameras, high-
                       Remotely operated vehicles have been u nder-                           powered lights, and sonar scanners, it revealed
                     going rapid change and development, going                                new information about an environment that had
                     deeper to bring clearer pictures than ever before                        previously been closed to archaeological re-
                     of the seabed.86 Developed in response to the                            search. The Titanic was later explored by a
                                                                                              manned vehicle, the Alvin, and a remotely oper-
                                                                                              ated craft, Jason, Jr. in an attempt to gather visual
                      85J. Barto Arnold, 111, "Remote Sensing in Archaeology," The In-
                     ternational joumal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Ex-
                     ploration, 1981.
                      86Craig T. Mullen, Eastport International, Inc., personal commu-          "RobertD. Ballard, "HowWe Found the Titanic," NationalGeo-
                     nication, 1986.                                                          graphic vol. 168, 1985, pp. 696-722.

                           40

                           and other data on the wreck's condition.811 The
                           U.S.S. Monitor has been surveyed by the Navy's
                           Deep Drone, a highly sophisticated ROV that was
                           also used in the recovery of the remains of the
                           Challenger space shuttle.119
                              Information technologies make a substantial
                           contribution to research and management of
                           maritime and underwater cultural resources. Al-
                           though the various technologies for archiving,
                           retrieving, and manipulating the many research
                           and historical records related to underwater ar-
                           chaeology and maritime preservation are not
                           unique to these subjects, they are an integral part
                           of the preservation process. Of particular inter-
                           est to underwater archaeologists and maritime
                           preservationists are automated databases, and the
                           use of optical disks for the storage and retrieval
                           of both visual and textual information. Both tech-
                           nologies require the extensive use of computers
                           to be effective.90

                                                   Navigation
                              Archaeologists       can acquire a variety of navi-
                           gation tools, depending on the nature of their                             1111'
                           search and desired accuracy. In the coastal waters
                           of the United States, the LORAN-C system main-
                           tained by the U.S. Coast Guard enables site relo-                                                    Photos copyright National Geographic Society
                           cation within around 10 meters. Microwave posi-                               (Above)  Diver surfaces with SHARPS 30OKhz sound
                                                                                                         source.  (Below) SHARPS image (Copyright, Applied
                           tioning systems allow "repeatable fixes" within                               Sonics Corp.) of the remains of the Henrietta Bach were
                           3 meters or less. Space-based navigation systems                              constructed in less than an hour and were accurate to
                           allow positions to be fixed within several                                                         within an inch.
                           meters.91
                              A new satellite-based navigation and position-                          Gulf of Mexico, out to around 600 nautical miles.
                           ing system known as Starfix, a joint venture be-                           Originated for civilian marine use, primarily by
                           tween John E. Chance & Associates and Analyti-                             the oil exploration industry in drill rig situating,
                           cal Technology Laboratories, is now available.                             pipeline laying, and geophysical prospecting,
                           This system allows accuracies of better than five                          Starfix is the first privately developed satellite posi-
                           meters throughout the lower 48 States, includ-                             tioning system. Starfix offers continuous cover-
                           ing both Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and the                           age, 365 days per year in all types of weather.
                                                                                                      Sonic High Accuracy Ranging and
                              "Walter Sullivan, "Manned Sub Descends To View the Titanic,"            Positioning System (SHARPS)
                           New York Times, July 15, 1986, p. Cl.
                              "Michael D. Lemonick, "Probing the Monitor with a Deep                     This system is a new, extremely rapid, and
                           Drone," Time, June 22, 1987, p. 77.
                              10See U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, OTA-E-            highly accurate means of achieving detailed maps
                           319, Technologies for Prehisto'ric and Historic Preservation (Wash_        of shipwreck sites. It represents a technological
                           ington, DO U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1986),               advance over the usual method of charting a Sub-
                           ch. 5, for a discussion of preservation information technologies.
                              "'Charles Maze[, "Technology for Marine Archaeology," Ocea-             merged area, in which investigators establish a
                           nus, vol. 28, No. 1, spring 1985, pp. 87.                                  hand-placed grid comprised of plastic lines or

                                                                                                                                                                                         41

                                                                                                  --- MEMO
                           NOW-

                                                                                                                                                     Owl
                           Or

                                                                                                                                                            Photo credit., Ray A. Williamson
                                                             Coffer dam around shipwreck site, Yorktown Archaeological Project.

                                                                                tf           7
                                                                                           r
                                                                                                                                                                       v

                                                                                                                                                                                     4

                                                                                                                              Photo credit., Kevin Crisman, Yorktown Archaeological Project
                                                                      Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeological Project Shipwreck.

                          42

                          tubing, stretched from a series of posts, over a                           even in relatively calm, shallow water. Specially
                          wreck to enable the hand calculation of thou-                              designed coffer dams such as that developed for
                          sands of reference points. The usual approach                              the Yorktown Archeological Park in Yorktown,
                          can take months or even years to complete, is                              Virginia (box H), are improving the ability of
                          labor-intensive, and can be dangerous in deep                              divers to find their way in heavily silted waters.
                          water because of diver's susceptibility to nitro-                          In Yorktown, excavation of an 18th century ship-
                          gen narcosis or "the bends." In the deepest                                wreck is carried out within a steel enclosure filled
                          waters, it can be virtually impossible.                                    with river water that is clarified by commercial
                             SHARPS involves setting up around a site three                          filtration units.
                          electronic transm itte r- receivers. These transmit-                       SCUBA Diving
                          ter-receivers detect signals from an electronic gun
                          held by a diver at points the diver wishes to meas-                          As noted earlier in this background paper, ar-
                          ure. When the diver pulls the trigger, the points                          chaeologists make extensive use of SCUBA div-
                          are recorded by computer on shipboard. This                                ing equipment and techniques for exploring and
                          technique allows accuracies to within less than                            excavating sites in shallow waters.
                          half an inch. The system enables archaeologists
                          to outline vessels and artifacts, create two and                           Deep Sea Diving
                          three-dimensional maps, and label objects.92                                 The use of saturation divers and deep-diving
                                                                                                     systems to collect samples at depths totally un-
                                 Excavation and Documentation                                        attainable to conventional divers has been a ma-
                             Individuals exploring the sea bottom have a                             jor technical innovation. Saturation divers are
                          wide array of technologies at their disposal. Deep-                        now able to work at extreme depths for pro-
                          water technologies such as tethered and free-                              longed periods. Bottom times are no longer a
                          roaming ROVs and saturation diving could ex                                function of depth, as they are with SCUBA div-
                          ert a profound effect on data recovery in under-                           ing, and each dive can last for many hours in-
                          water archaeology and maritime preservation.                               stead of minutes. Breathing an atmosphere of
                                                                                                     mixed helium-oxygen, divers can attain depths
                          Underwater Excavation Technologies                                         of over 1,000 feet, although decompression after-
                                                                                                     ward may require several days. Habitats, lockout
                             These techniques range from the extremely                               submersibles, and tethered deep-diving systems
                          simple, such as hand-fanning, to the complex,                              deploy saturation divers to their destinationS.93
                          such as controlled blasting, and include the use
                          of blowers, prop wash deflectors, air hammers,                             Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
                          and chisels. Excavation required in dark or                                  ROVs also have an important role in gather-
                          "black" water is extremely difficult to carry out,                         ing data, and can be used to collect samples or
                                                                                                     to photograph or videotape a wreck site. Scor-
                             9'Recently, a research team completed several experiments in            pio, a particular type of new ROV,               94 is now be-
                          the Chesapeake Bay demonstrating that placing grids and artifacts
                          can be done as much as a thousand times more quickly through               ing equipped with remotely controlled manipu-
                          the use of a small shipboard computer and electronic mapping gun.          lators. ROVs are now capable of achieving depths
                          Emory Kristoff of the National Geographic and associate, Donald
                          Shommette, with over 1,200 reference points, mapped the remains
                          of an 1883 oyster boat located in the shallow waters near the mouth
                          of St. Leonard's Creek in Calvert County, Maryland, in 1 hour. Pre-
                          vious methods would have required about 6 weeks for the same
                          results. The researchers assert that SHARPS can change the field
                          of underwater archaeology, putting all sites within easier reach.
                          This technology is the product of government and private sector
                          cooperation, and was developed with the participation of the U.S.
                          Navy, NOAA, several Maryland State agencies, and the National               "Otto Orzech, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, personal
                          Geographic Society. See The Washington Post, Science Notebook,             communication, 1986.
                          "Reading Tales of Shipwrecks," Susan Okie and Philip J. Hilts, Mar.         "Jonathan B. Tucker, "Submersibles Reach New Depths," High
                          23, 1987, p. A3.                                                           Technology, February 1986.

                                                                                                                                                            43

                                Box H.-Applications of Technology on the Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeological Project
                             The Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeological Project has provided an excellent test site for applications
                        of technology to underwater archaeology. From the intial surveys to the current full-scale excavation, ad-
                        vanced technology has been applied in all phases of the project.
                             During the period 1976-1979 the project team conducted a series of remote-sensing surveys in the
                        York River using a variety of positioning system s-side-sca n n i rig and bottom-penetrating sonars and mag-
                        netometers. These surveys, followed by hands-on inspection by archaeologists, resulted in the location
                        and mapping of nine shipwrecks from the 1871 Battle of Yorktown, including the 44-gun British warship
                        HMS Charon. Throughout the survey period, investigations were hampered by hostile site conditions. Nor-
                        mal visibility in the York River is usually less than 1 foot. Strong currents and stinging jellyfish added to
                        the difficulty of working in the river.
                             In order to offset adverse site conditions and to permit more thorough and accurate documentation,
                        funds were obtained for the construction of a steel enclosure, or cofferdam, around the best-preserved
                        of the Yorktown shipwrecks. The cofferdam allows the enclosed water to be filtered and clarified, utilizing
                        a commercial filtration system, thus improving speed, accuracy, and efficiency, and permitting a photo-
                        graphic record of the site to be made. The filtration process increases the visibility inside the protective
                        coffer dam to more than 20 feet.
                             A pier connecting the cofferdam to the shoreline, just under 500 feet away, permits visitors to observe
                        the work in progress and to learn, from staff interpreters, the importance of maritime preservation and
                        the Yorktown shipwrecks. This is the first such project in the world.
                             As excavation has proceeded, the staff continues to employ additional advanced technology. Meas-
                        urements are made using three tape measures, with the resulting data converted to cartesian coordinates
                        by a micro-computer program. Recently, the cofferdam was the site for the first field test of a new sonic
                        positioning system, called SHAR/PS. This system allows a diver to record hundreds of data points, in three
                        dimensions, accurate to a centimeter, on a single dive. Advanced Marine Enterprises, Inc., a naval ar-
                        chitectural firm, is using their computer-aided design (CAD) system to analyze, record, and plot hull and
                        artifact remains. Efforts are currently underway to mate the two systems, thus allowing site locational data
                        to be fed directly into the CAD system for analysis and plotting. This system should allow field data to
                        be analyzed and plotted on publication-quality drawings within days of initial recording.
                             Although visibility in the cofferdam now reaches as much as 30 feet, many of the techniques being
                        developed there, including the SHAR/PS system, will be even more effective in poor-visiblity conditions.
                        SOURCE: John D. Broadwater, commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Conservation and Historic Resources, 1987.

                    of up to 13,000 feet and are armed with special-                        versely with the envi,ronment after               recovery."96
                    ized work packages capable of cleaning oil rig                          Participants in the OTA study agreed that no sub-
                    platforms and recovering a vast array of objects.'15                    merged site should be excavated unless archaeol-
                                                                                            ogists can guarantee the proper conservation of
                                          Conservation                                      the recovered materials. The conservation and
                                                                                            protection of underwater cultural resources, like
                        Conservation is "the documentation, analysis,                       other underwater archaeological procedures,
                    cleaning, and stabilization of an object ... to                         tend to be expensive, require specialized knowl-
                    protect the artifactual, faunal, and other archaeo-                     edge and facilities, and are complex and time-
                    logical material and prevent their reacting ad-                         consuming. Concreted metal, waterlogged wood,

                      "The University of New Hampshire owns possibly the most ad-
                    vanced ROV, EAVE-EAST, autonomous, outfitted %%ith five                   96D. L. Hamilton, "Conservation in Nautical Archaeology," Un-
                    microprocessors to sense data on altitude, depth. obstacles. and        derivaterArchaeology: The Challenge Before Us, The Proceedings
                    power consumption. Research continues to impart greater dexteritv       of the Twelfth Conference on Underwater Archaeology, Gordon
                    of manipulation and better systems for autonomy.                        P. Watts, Jr., (ed.) (San Marino, CA: Fathom Eight 1981).

                      44

                      and other organic materials such as leather or fab-                 Even thoroughly stabilized materials re-
                      ric begin almost instantaneously to deteriorate                  main extremely fragile. Polyethylene glycol
                      when exposed to the open air after having been                   is the commonly used wood consolidant and
                      submerged or buried under sediments. They must                   is very costly. However, recent successful ex-
                      be immediately reintroduced to water, via hold-                  periments using sucrose promise to lower
                      ing tanks, or wet-packed for transport to perma-                 some stabilization costs. Sucrose is very in-
                      nent conservation facilities.                                    expensive and seems highly stable.911
                        In the United States there is a shortage of con-               Combined Conservation and Documenta-
                      servation facilities as well as a dearth of trained,             tion.-This approach involves stabilizing all
                      competent conservation personnel to deal with                    s.mall, portable waterlogged cultural mate-
                      the ever-increasing numbers of cultural materi-                  rials and documenting large objects such as
                      als being recovered from the deep. Some suc-                     the hull; it dramatically reduces conservation
                      cessful conservation must rely, in large measure,                costs. Though a significant amount of study
                      on the services of volunteers working under su-                  is still feasible, some technical knowledge is
                      pervision. In addition, many projects are directed               lost. However, articles must still be housed
                      by non-research-oriented organizations and in-                   in properly staffed conservation facilities. For
                      dividuals whose ignorance of appropriate con-                    example, the State of Maine conserved the
                      servation methods ultimately destroys recovered                  small artifacts recovered from the Defence"
                      materials.                                                       and documented the hull through drawings
                                                                                       for only $20,000. The Canadian Government
                        The following approaches represent the range                   conserved all the small objects from the San
                      of conservation treatments available:                            Juan, molded sections of the hull, and
                                                                                       recorded the remaining sections with draw-
                           Full-Scale Conservation. -This approach calls               i ngs. 100
                           for the stabilization and continuing care of                Conservation Through Technology.-This
                           all waterlogged objects, including ship's                   technique, as yet unadopted, would involve
                           hulls. This is the most complex and expen        -          recording all small artifacts with holographic
                           sive method, but permits scholars and the                   techniques and all large artifacts through
                           public to examine thoroughly historic ship-                 molding and documentation and require
                           building techniques and any culturally sig-                 only holding areas and seasonal conserva-
                           nificant contents. This approach necessitates               tion staffs. The host institution's commitment
                           fully staffed conservation facilities with highly           would be minimal because its staff can eas-
                           controlled environments (humidity, temper-                  ily transport and store all information.-A
                           ature, light, etc.). Conservation processes are             drawback to this controversial approach is
                           time-consuming and tedious and demand a                     that it does not yield any tangible artifacts.
                           long-term commitment on the part of any                     No Action.-This approach leaves sites su b-
                           agency or institution. that assumes the                     merged or buried beneath the seafloor. De-
                           responsibility for applying them.                           terioration of shipwrecks and other objects
                             For example, the Swedish Government                       is slow and advances in conservation tech-
                           has assurnedresponsibility for the Wasa for
                           th.e past 26 years at a cost of over $20 mil-               nologies may significantly improve our ability
                           lion. The Mary Rose Trust is in the early                   to conserve artifacts taken from a submerged
                           stages of conservation of the Mary Rose. The                environment. Currently, this approach post-
                                                                                       pones the detailed acquisition of knowledge
                           Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Vir-
                           ginia, has taken on the Ronson Ship bow                 18See James M. Parent, "The Conservation of Waterlogged Wood
                           using private fund   S.97                              Using Sucrose," Proceedings of the 14th Conference on Under-
                                                                                  water Archaeology, Calvin Cummings (ed.) (San Marino, CA:
                                                                                  Fathom Eight, 1986).
                                                                                   "After they completed drawings of the vessel, archaeologists re-
                                                                                  buried her in situ, using sandbags to hold her in place.
                       91Sheli Smith, Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA, personal  10OSheli Smith, Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA, personal
                      communication, 1986.                                        communication, 1986.

                                                                                                                              45

                                                                                about a site. Future technologies might en-
                                                                                able the analysis and interpretation of cer-
                                                                                tain buried underwater archaeological com-
                                                                                ponents in situ. For example, the Turkish
                                                                                Government has left several shipwrecks at
                                                                                Yassi Ada to be investigated in future years.
                                                                                The State of Maine selected one ship for
                                                                                study after a survey of the entire Revolution-
                                                                                ary War Penobscot fleet. The Commonwealth
                                                                                of Virginia reburied the Revolutionary War
                                                                                period Cornwallis Cave wreck in anticipa-
                                                                                tion of more information on the scuttled Brit-
                                                                                ish fleet.
                                                                             These alternatives represent different emphases
                                                                           in terms of costs, commitment, and conservation
                                                                           facility readiness and capability. Realistic consid-
                                                                           eration of the pros and cons inherent in each of
                                                                           the above conservation methods should be ex-
                                                                           plicitly reflected in project research plans. Other-
                                'n'
                                                               "_g         wise, archaeological investigations will result in
                                                                           only unsatisfactory data bases and poorly con-
                                                                           served artifacts.

                                 Photo credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation

                    Technicial conserving bottle taken from shipwreck,
                           Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, ME.

                                FEDERAL POLICY TOWARD UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY AND
                                                                         MARITIME PRESERVATION

                                The Federal Government is responsible for pro-                            tation of the Nation's coastal zones has intensi-
                             viding leadership in preserving the Nation's pre-                            fied and threatens wholesale obliteration of sig-
                             historic and historic structures, objects, land-                             nificant sites before they are even recorded.
                             scapes, and archaeological sites. This section                               However, this initiative is limited to objects of
                             outlines several options for improving its efforts                           maritime interest, for example, commerce, war-
                             to preserve and protect submerged cultural and                               fare, and navigation. Yet, as noted in the previ-
                             maritime cultural resources.                                                 ous section, the resource base requiring atten-
                                                                                                          tion is far broader. Archaeologists and historians
                                            National Park Service                                         would welcome an initiative that would aggres-
                                                                                                          sively identify, study, and manage non-maritime
                                As the lead agency in providing technical pres-                           submerged sites. Such sites would include, for
                             ervation assistance, NPS could focus far greater                             example, historic and prehistoric habitations and
                             attention than it has on the identification, evalu-                          work areas located within little-studied environ-
                             ation, and protection of submerged cultural and                              ments such as estuaries.
                             maritime resources. it could, for example, de-
                             velop and articulate a clear national policy to                              The National Historic Preservation Act
                             guide the preservation of maritime and under-
                             water cultural resources and coordinate NIPS pro-                               The National Historic Preservation Act contains
                             grams for preserving these elements of the coun-                             no impediment to the identification and protec-
                             try's history. In recently creating the position of                          tion of underwater archaeological and maritime
                             Maritime Historian, the Service has highlighted                              historical sites; neither does it specifically men-
                             the importance and visibility of its maritime pro-                           tion them. 102However, having no explicit refer-
                             grams and created a means by which such pol-                                 ence to maritime or underwater historical sites
                             icy could be developed and clarified.                                        allows agencies to overlook them in cultural re-
                                In devoting increased attention to the health                             source planning. Some preservationists have sug-
                             of maritime and submerged cultural resources                                 gested that it may be appropriate to amend the
                             NPS could place greater emphasis on the criti-                               National Historic Preservation Act to include
                             cal role of technological applications. It could also                        these specific categories. Likewise, it may be
                             do more to include underwater and maritime is-                               appropriate to amend Public Law 96-95 (16
                             sues in its publications series. The National Reg-                           U.S.C. 470aa et seq.) the "Archaeological Re-
                             ister Bulletin #20, which gives uniform guidelines                           sources Protection Act of 1979" which outlines
                             for nomination, should result in the listing of more                         the consequences of damaging, looting, and de-
                             shipwrecks and other types of craft on the Na-                               stroying archaeological materials within public
                             tional Register of Historic Places. "The National                            lands. This legislation does not explicitly indicate
                                                                                                          the underwater context or refer to submerged
                             Register has been under utilized for maritime re-                            cultural resources,         103 though portions of ship-
                             sources, particularly historic vessels." By 1976,
                             the 10th year of the National Register Program,                                102For example, see Sec. 101 (a)(1)(A): "The  ISecretary of the In-
                             only 44 vessels and 8 shipwrecks, 4 of which had                             terior is authorized to expand and maintain a National Register of
                             been fully recovered, had been listed.101 As noted                           Historic Places composed of districts, sites, buildings, structures,
                             earlier, of 45,000 properties on the Register only                           and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeol-
                                                                                                          ogy, engineering and culture."
                             162 have been included.                                                        103See Sec. 30): "The term 'archaeological resource' means any
                                                                                                          material remains of past human life or activities which are of ar-
                                NPS attempts to address underwater archaeo-                               chaeological interest, as determined under uniform regulations
                             logical and maritime historical matters under the                            promulgated pursuant to this Act. Such regulations containing such
                             Maritime Initiative are timely. Commercial exploi-                           determination shall include, but not be limited to: pottery, basketry,
                                                                                                          bottles, weapons, weapon projectiles, tools, structures or portions
                                101james P. Delgado, "The National Register of Historic Places            of structures, pit houses, rock paintings, rock carvings, intaglios,
                             and Maritime Preservation," APT Bulletin, TheJournal of the Asso-            graves, human skeletal materials, or any portion or piece of the
                             ciation for Preservation Technology, vol. IX, No. 1, 1987, P. 35.            foregoing items."

                             46

                                                                                                                                                                    47

                       wrecks are mentioned in the final uniform regu-                            National Trust for Historic Preservation recom-
                       lations [49 FR 1016]. Others have expressed con-                           mended that protective legislation for historic
                       cern that including explicit reference to maritime                         shipwrecks be extended to the OCS, in order to
                       or underwater historical sites would subject these                         bring that vast area under tighter management
                       laws to unnecessary and potentially harmful ex-                            for the purposes of cultural conservation.' 05
                       perimentation.                                                                Participants in the OTA study suggested that the
                         Congress may wish to address the need for                                Federal government undertake a review of State
                       greater attention to maritime and underwater cul-                          programs to ensure that the public's interest
                       tural resources by creating additional legislation                         would be served. Removal of the threat of ad-
                       that specifically recognizes their importance. Al-                         miralty court from historic shipwrecks would be
                       ternatively, Congress may wish to use its over-                            insufficient if States retain "business as usual"
                       sight authority to encourage the inclusion of mari-                        commercial salvage programs.
                       time and underwater archaeology concerns in the
                       regulations and guidelines issued by Federal                                     The National Maritime Initiative
                       agencies that treat prehistoric and historic pres-
                       ervation.                                                                     As noted earlier in this background paper, Con-
                                                                                                  gress funded the National Maritime Initiative in
                             The Abandoned Shipwreck Act                                          its fiscal year 1986 appropriation for the National
                                                                                                  Park Service. Congress directed that a collabora-
                         Under current law, shipwrecks are treated                                tive effort be established involving the National
                       according to dual standards and are not afforded                           Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Pres-
                       the same consideration and protection as are ar-                           ervation, and the "maritime preservation com-
                       chaeological remains on dry land. If Congress                              munity" to begin . . . "to conduct a survey of
                       wishes all classes of cultural resources to enjoy                          historic maritime resources (table 9), including
                       full protection under the law, it could consider                           those of the Service; recommend standards and
                       passing The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987                                priorities for the preservation of those resources;
                       (H.R. 74 and S. 858). This legislation should end                          and recommend the appropriate Federal and pri-
                       much of the courtroom fighting and maneuver-                               vate sector roles in addressing those priorities." 106
                       ing over ownership of and responsibility for
                       historic shipwrecks. It would also relieve the                                105Testimony of J. Jackson Walter, President of the National Trust
                       States, desirous of preserving their underwater                            for Historic Preservation, before the Subcommittee on Oceanog-
                                                                                                  raphy of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries,
                       cultural resources, from having to sacrifice enor-                         April 21, 1987.
                       mous sums out of decreasing financial resources                               106Congressional Record, Oct. 10, 1984. p. 11922.
                       on protracted legal actions.104 Federal historic
                       preservation legislation has clearly been applied
                       to such maritime cultural objects as lighthouses                            Table g.-Maritime Historic Resource Categories
                       and land installations. It is not being applied to                         1. Preserved historic vessels (more than 40 feet long,
                       shipwrecks. As noted in Issue B, because ad-                                  more than 50 years old)
                       miralty law is being invoked in the case of this                           2. Hulks (substantially intact vessels neither afloat nor
                       particular resource, the States have been unable                              completely submerged)
                                                                                                  3. Relevant documentation (logs, journals, nautical charts,
                       to assert ownership of an especially vulnerable                               ship plans, and photographs)
                       cultural asset. The result is that historic ship-                          4. Aids to navigation (including life-saving and U.S. Coast
                       wreck sites in the United States are suffering rapid                          Guard stations)
                                                                                                  5. Marine sites and structures (canals, docks, wharves,
                       attrition. Passage of the Act would remove his-                               ropewalks, waterfront warehouses, sail lofts, etc.)
                       toric shipwrecks from the purview of admiralty                             6. Small craft (less than 40 feet long, weighing less than
                       courts and place them expressly under historic                                20 tons)
                                                                                                  7. Intangible cultural resources (traditional shipwright and
                       preservation law. In hearings during the 99th                                 rigging skills, oral traditions, sea music, folklore, etc.)
                       Congress, the Department of the Interior and the                           8. Maritime collections (parts of vessels, tools, artifacts,
                                                                                                     art, furnishings).
                        104 See Technologies for Prehistoric and Historic Preservation, for       SOURCE: National Maritime Initiative: Phase One, A Report to the Congress of
                       a discussion of historic preservation funding levels.                              the United States, prepared by the National Park Service, 1986.

                             48

                             r7_
                                                                          d-Lin""
                                                                                               g
                                                              rocess                     accurate:
                                    Uttes liffihW The, 0                  of obtaining
                                 "Mea-su rements "of 4 15'6V& shape If ro,m4hic
                                 pro,         in                    Lin
                                             rahar         r4iy
                                 set-Op" 01,            Wir
                                 ence system which musfiie,16i6d;66@sls t
                                      meas
                                             uremerttsAeyond-t im,
                                                                                "ispe
                                            are    numerous,and           tan ge,
                                 =ethods ftap
                                                           e
                                                                          ar
                                                                           _6
                                                                                           e   u Fe
                                 Tech" electronic and'p             Qtogra
                                                                           _p     Jp,,p,
                                                                                      miat,
                             -,Oaser distance. -.-rangin
                                                                 f
                                 long as.a methodlis@,jeo@meirically,- und',4n4'
                             -U                                 - I m I                   s acto%Y,
                                  sedaccuratelyWithinits'li itationssatif
                                 results are achievable., Hand, methods, ba                  I  een.,
                                 'Used, most often,bec4iise of
                                                                                             Y a-,
                                 low' cost. Lines lffting'h4s b6ein pria duced for c'en-
                                 turies' by
                                                andhobibyi@ts;-,'@--
                                                                                                                                                                       'CAL
                                                                             i6f                 hk
                             -",@@Unes-- Airawingg.--k-                   ries,                                              A4
                                                                                      pographic,
                                  maps,' oi@cpntours describing                   e COMP90-nd'@                                                               .......
                                                                          mIt' vprewcatt
                                  U                                        he                 esjaw-l
                                 axes. Lines,
                                                          n4y
                                                              @hull.,Sha  peari igivea"littleO-n!
                                 -th atthey, show- o
                                 no.indication of materials, fittings-,'-pr
                                         kai'.IOfdinadli@@'&nly 'he
                                                of-Ia vessel is show          sipcesymmet                                          g
                                                                                                                 @,p     I.,   j,,@
                                                                                                                                    pp,                             _01
                                 hand) side,
                                                                                                                                              77,
                                 SOURCE: Rithard K. Anderson,       Jr.,
                                           Survey-Historic'Arrierican :f'nJgJn_eeriOg-Re@&fd- IHASP                        Photo credit: Richard K. Anderson, Jr., Historic American Buildings
                                                                                  R            9'
                                           HAER),Natioh'atN-kS&Vice,',Oe,),3ona@,commontc roav,fl
                                           1'987.                                                                                                SurveylHistoric American Engineering Record
                                                                          H
                                                                                W                                     Lines lifting. Triangulations in process near the bow
                                                                            , I _`11 I
                                                                                                                                 of schooner Wawona, Seattle, WA.
                             Phase I accomplishments to date include the fol-
                             lowing:                                                                                     - drawings of the archaeological ly recov-
                                    undertaking an exhaustive literature search                                               ered engine from the 1848 steamer Indi-
                                    in preparation for inventorying the nation's                                              ana, the earliest extant marine steam en-
                                    maritime resources, including shipwrecks;                                                 gine in North America, which is listed in
                                    drafting guidelines for the documentation of                                              the National Register of Historic Places;
                                    vessels as a resu It of projects completed by                                        drafting guidelines to stimulate the nomina-
                                    the Historic American Buildings Survey/His-                                          tion of maritime resources to the National
                                    toric American Engineering Record:                                                   Register of Historic Places for inclusion in
                                    - a 1985 lines lifting (box 1) of the 1897                                           National Bulletin #20. "How To Nominate
                                         schooner Wawona in Seattle, Washington,                                         Historic Vessels and Shipwrecks." 107 For the
                                         listed in the National Register of Historic                                     first time, maritime resources will be evalu-
                                         Places. A private interest group, North-                                        ated according to uniform criteria;
                                         west Seaport, Inc., participated;                                               completion of a computerized inventory of
                                    - a 1986 documentation of small sailing                                              250 preserved historic vessels over 50 years
                                         craft at Mystic, Connecticut with the Mys-                                      old and more than 40 feet long.
                                         tic Seaport Museum, and the Calvert Ma-
                                         rine Museum at Solomons island, Maryland;                                  'O'National Park Service.

                                                                                                                                                        49

                        Among Phase 11 goals for fiscal year 1988 are                             National Survey of Maritime
                    the following:                                                                        Historic Resources
                        �to continue the "maritime inventory";                              If Congress wishes the national survey of
                        �to conduct National Historic Landmark                             historic maritime resources to continue, it should
                         Theme Studies for aids to navigation, Pacific                     continue to fund the National Maritime Initiative
                         coast maritime history, Great Lakes maritime                      (table 10). As indicated previously, the first phase,
                         history, etc.; and                                                which focused on preserved vessels more than
                        �to continue HABS/HAER documentation of                            40 feet long and at least 50 years old, is complete.
                         a major steamship and engine.                                     However, seven other categories of maritime re-
                        Center for Preservation Technology                                 sources exist (table 9) and are poorly inventoried.
                                                                                            Of possible interest to those engaged in devel-
                        A federally supported center for preservation                      oping and institutionalizing a national survey of
                    technology could make a major contribution to                          maritime historic resources is the International
                    the development of technologies for the study                          Survey of Underwater Cultural Heritage being
                    and preservation of underwater and maritime cul-                       sponsored by the United Nations Educational,
                    tural resources. NPS could take the lead in exam-                      Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and man-
                    ining which cost-effective technologies for the                        aged by the Scientific Committee of the World
                    special requirements of underwater archaeology                         Confederation of Underwter Activities. The scope
                    and maritime preservation such a center should                         of the project is worldwide and will include
                    focus on. Candidate technology areas include                           sunken vessels, artifacts (table 11), and habita-
                    survey, location, navigation, recording, and ma-                       tion sites from every period. It will also include
                    terials conservation. NPS could assess, among                          all types of marine and inland underwater re-
                    other things, the potential utility of a central tech-                 sources and review mechanisms for their protec-
                    nical facility, or coordinated set of regional facil-                  tion, discuss the findings of recent investigations,
                    ities, as the primary focus for the development                        and recommend areas for further research.109
                    of preservation technology and for intergovern-
                    mental technology sharing.
                                                                                            109J.A. Gifford, M. Redknap, and N.C. Fleming, "The UNESCO
                                                                                           International Survey of Underwater Cultural Heritage," WorldAr-
                        Incentives for the Restoration and                                 chaeology, vol. 16, No. 3, Sept. 1985, pp. 1-4.
                           Rehabilitation of Floating and
                                   Dry-Berthed Vessels
                        Since 1976, tax incentives have been available
                    to owners of qualified, income-producing pri-
                    vately-owned structures. These incentives have
                    resulted in the preservation of many historic struc-                   Table 10.- Institutions and Agencies Participating
                    tures all over the country, and have increased lo-                           in National Maritime Initiative Activities
                    cal property values dramatically. It may be appro-
                    priate to make similar tax incentives available for                    Association for Preservation Technology
                    privately owned, income-producing floating and                         Calvert Marine Museum, Maryland
                                                                                           Council of American Maritime Museums
                    dry-berthed historic vessels. Such tax incentives                      Historic Naval Ships Association of North America
                    would likely promote the protection of such his-                       National Maritime Museum Association, Inc.
                    toric resources.108 Congress might also consider                       National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
                                                                                           National Park Service
                    providing incentives for encouraging salvors to                        National Trust for Historic Preservation
                    follow established archaeological procedures in                        Northwest Seaport, Inc.
                    excavating shipwrecks.                                                 Tri-Coastal Marine, Inc.
                                                                                           .U.S. Navy
                                                                                           U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Foundation, Inc.
                                                                                           SOURCE: National Maritime Initiative: Phase One, A Report to the Congress of
                        108Editor's Column, "Listing Ships," Preservation News, June 1986.        the United States, prepared by the National Park Service, 19136.

                          50

                            Table 11.-Artifacts Representative of Maritime                      Other Federal agencies could improve their at-
                                            Historical Collections                           tention to underwater archaeology and maritime
                          Paintings                                                          preservation. For example, the National Oceanic
                          Drawingstillustrations                                             and Atmospheric Administration could develop
                          Sculpture                                                          its own program-wide maritime archaeological
                          Scrimshaw                                                          program, particularly if it intends to designate
                          Large vessels
                          Small craft                                                        more nationally significant cultural resources as
                          Ship models                                                        National Maritime Sanctuaries. Federal agencies
                          Canal-related objects                                              could also give attention to developing a set of
                          Maritime construction-related implemerrits
                          Hunting/trappingifishing implements                                comprehensive data bases for underwater ar-
                          Rigging/outfitting                                                 chaeology and maritime preservation.
                          Ship equipment
                          Forecastle artifacts/personal items
                          Figureheads
                          Needlework
                          Macramaelrope work/knot work
                          Sea shantiesifoc'sle songs
                          River, lake, and canal-related music
                          Dioramas
                          Account books
                          Builders' models
                          Films
                          Maps/charts
                          Lighthouse lenses
                          Tales/legends/stories
                          Musical instruments
                          Logs
                          Diaries
                          Manuscripts
                          Letters
                          Ships orders
                          Records
                          Recipes
                          Prints
                          Shipwrecks/hulls/remains
                          Whaling artifacts
                          Plans/blueprints
                          Lifesaving equipment
                          Oral histories
                          Photographs
                          Tape recordings
                          SOURCE: National Trust for Historic Preservation.

                                                          BIBLIOGRAPHY

                Albright, Alan B., "Shipwreck Legislation in South      Cederlund, Carl Olof, The Old Wrecks of the Bal-
                   Carolina: Blueprint for Pillage or Protection,"         tic Sea, Archaeological Recording of the
                   Underwater Archaeology: The Proceedings of              Wrecks of Carvel-Built Ships, vol. 186 (Oxford,
                   the Fourteenth Conference on Underwater Ar-             England: British Archaeology Reports, Interna-
                   chaeology, Calvin R. Cummings (ed.) (San                tional Series, 1983).
                   Marino, CA: Fathom Eight, 1986).                     Cockrell, W.A., "Archaeology, Sports Diving, and
                APT Bulletin, The Journal of the Association for           Shipwrecks," Underwater Archaeology: The
                   Preservation Technology, vol. IX, No. 1, 1987,          Proceedings of the Eleventh Conference on
                   Marylee MacDonald (ed). (Note: entire issue             Underwater Archaeology, Calvin R. Cummings
                   is devoted to underwater archaeological and             (ed.) (San Marino, CA: Fathom Eight Special
                   maritime preservation issues.)                          Publication, 1982).
                Archaeological Artefacts Conservation Guidelines        Cockrell, W.A., "Some Moral, Ethical, and Le-
                   No. 1, Excavated Artefacts for Publication: UK          gal Considerations in Underwater Archaeol-
                   Sites, Archaeology Section, United Kingdom              ogy," In the Realms of Gold: The Proceedings
                   (London: Institute for Conservation, 1982).             of the Tenth Conference on Underwater Ar-
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