Highlights Archives
Court Affirms State Ownership of Historic Shipwrecks
The United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago has affirmed an earlier decision by the federal district court in Milwaukee, which held that the state of Wisconsin owns a historic shipwreck lying in state waters. The decision settles a case begun Aug. 7, 2000, when an Illinois resident asserted a claim under admiralty law for title to the shipwreck Rosinco lying on the bottom of Lake Michigan.
The ruling bolsters the state's efforts to protect historic shipwrecks from looting by treasure and artifact hunters, as well as from commercial salvors. The Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Historical Society argued that these wrecks are publicly owned and neither the wrecks nor the artifacts associated with them can be privately held.
"Fresh water shipwrecks are underwater museums. These extremely well preserved time capsules can tell us much about the lives of the men and women who lived, worked and, in some cases, died on the Great Lakes," says Keith Meverden, underwater archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society. "With advances in diving technology, video imaging and the Internet, the mystery and beauty of these museums are now available to an ever-increasing public audience."
Scuba diving is a multi-million-dollar-a-year sport and the cold, clear waters of the Great Lakes are a popular destination for divers wanting to visit some of the best preserved shipwrecks in the world. Preservation of these underwater museums is critical if this component of Wisconsin's heritage tourism industry is to continue expanding.
The Wisconsin Historical Society recognizes the importance of these shipwrecks in both telling the Wisconsin story and in bolstering the heritage tourism industry, and has developed the Maritime Trails Program to bring attention to these non-renewable cultural resources.
For more information on the preservation of historic sites, visit Wisconsin's Maritime Trails website or Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks website.
:: Posted July 8, 2004
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