Why are these shipwrecks, and tombs, disturbed? Sure, it’s cool to see all the cannons, etc., but these are TOMBS, the last resting place of dead sailors. Would we allow anyone to go mucking about the final resting place of any of our sunken ships?
No.
/feeling very Bah Hum Bug today apparently
It was a merchant ship-—pressed into service with the Spanish Navy—so it would be a Naval Ship—and property of his majesties Government in Spain. Lets hope some of the poor seamen made it ashore to become the Black Irish.
It happens all the time, unfortunately. People have been arrested trying to bring home pieces of sunken American warships from around Guadalcanal and New Guinea (because, as any warbird fan will say with despair, the US Navy holds claim to any of its property downed anytime, anywhere), and some of our sunken warships around Java, such as the USS Houston, have been picked over by covert scrappers. Same is true for our old facilities in the Philippines, like Corregidor.