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that with Roger, I was telling the guys, this place is a natural for a
preserve.”
It didn’t come without some controversy. Naysayers argue that
encouraging amateurs to dive wrecks could encourage removal of
historic artifacts.
“At the time when underwater archaeology was a nascent disci-pline,
the theory was if you’re not an underwater archaeologist you
don’t have any business being out here on wrecks,” Morris says.
“Well, I was diving on these wrecks before I could spell archaeol-ogy.
I’m a firm believer in don’t tell them what they can’t do, get
them to understand why they shouldn’t do it and then they will
work with you. If you go to Mount Vernon, do you feel an over-whelming
need to chisel a brick out of the privy and take it home?
No, you don’t, because you understand you have a shared respon-sibility
to a national treasure. We’re pushing for that here. Go look
at it. Just do it with respect. The Aussies don’t care if you go down
and dive the Great Barrier Reef, but they are going to get their
panties in a severe wad if you go down and take a big chunk off.
And it’ll grow back. But this won’t.”
The key is education, to ensure shipwrecks like the Condor are
viewed as national treasures like Mount Vernon.
“They are non-renewable resources,” Stratton says. “Once they
go, they’re gone. One of the things we’re starting to push very
much lately is teaching a sense of stewardship into the diving com-munity
and public. Take only pictures, leave only bubbles. This
is their shipwreck. It’s not just ours that we dive. This is North
Carolina’s. It’s their cultural maritime history.”
While visibility can be a challenge depending on conditions, divers
should be able to see well enough to explore the wreck on most days.
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IMAGES COURTESY OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY BRANCH