The world’s biggest grave robbery: Asia’s disappearing WWII shipwrecks
Exclusive: the unmarked graves of thousands of sailors are threatened by illegal metal salvagers
By Oliver Holmes, Monica Ulmanu and Simon Roberts
Thu 2 Nov 2017 21.22 EDT Last modified on Tue 2 Jan 2018 10.05 EST
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/worlds-biggest-grave-robbery-asias-disappearing-ww2-shipwrecks
[snip] Some ancient ships, often centuries-old Roman vessels in European waters, have also been salvaged for their lead, which is also low-radiation and is used in nuclear power stations. [/snip]
Interesting. But unless it’s the Arizona or some other inshore, Navy protected vessel, or one so deep as to make it unpractical the odds are it will eventually be plundered. Time will make the offense less. Like the 17th Century hulks systematically searched for dubloons in the Caribbean and Florida coastal waters.