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Gary Gentile on Shipwreck Artifacts
excerpts from
U.S.S. San Diego, The Last Armored Cruiser*
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A shipwreck is a time capsule: a fragment of history buried in the sea, a temporary repository of the remnants of a bygone age. The wood or steel hull is a transient abode that precariously extends the life of man's handiwork only slightly beyond the date of disaster and human suffering. This does not mean that the objects contained within are granted eternal life, for the sea is ever changing, ever destroying; it means only that oft sought relics have been granted a slight reprieve from obliteration.
An artifact must be preserved from the elements of nature, not consigned to its capriciousness; the longer it is constrained to these wild forces the less likely it is to survive intact, to be found and appreciated by future generations.
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Who is to be the custodian of these treasures? Who is to see to their safety? While many may talk about saving our underwater heritage, it is ultimately the wreck diver who actively engages in doing it - and at his own expense.
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Attend any underwater conference, go to any dive club meeting, visit any wreck diver's home, and see how history is really preserved. Here are the people who are willing to spend their own time and energy recovering, restoring, and displaying the testimonies of yesteryear. Here are the people who give legacy new light, new appreciation. Here are the people who not only preserve artifacts, but cherish them.
Wreck divers are a special brand of people. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for recovering our investment in the past - before that investment is lost forever.
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*U.S.S. San Diego, The Last Armored Cruiser, Gary Gentile. p 7,112,113.
Gary Gentile Productions, 1989.
Trademark and excerpts used with expressed consent.
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