GIVE OUR PAST A FUTURE
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Dive to Preserve ! "
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| WHY do we need this ??? The Great Lakes region is home to a most fascinating maritime legacy. From the voyageurs and the indigenous peoples in canoes to modern 1000’ freighters, the lakes and their tributaries helped built two great countries. As Greek and Roman galleys transported the essentials of trade and settlers across the Mediterranean, so too did schooners, steam barges, paddle wheelers and freighters across the Great Lakes. Vessels all built for the same purpose, separated only by time and advancements in technology. Like their predecessors around the world, the ships and sailors of the Great Lakes paid a price for the development and prosperity they brought to the people they served. Collisions, fires, groundings and storms all took their toll on the ships of the lakes. Of the tens of thousands of accidents that have occurred, it is conservatively estimated over 4,000 remain on the bottom today. This lost fleet is our direct connection to our maritime heritage. This vast underwater resource can mean different things to different people. To a marine archaeologist or historian, a shipwreck is a series of clues that can tell the story of how it was built and how it was lost. Artefacts can speak of the technology that was used and the material culture of the time. To a recreational diver, wreck diving may be why they decided to take up the sport, an opportunity to swim back to another era and explore. And to a dive charter operator, a shipwreck is a business asset, a destination people have paid them to visit. Our submerged heritage is a very fragile, finite resource. When a site is disturbed or vandalized, a piece of this heritage is forever lost. One day, there will not be any new wrecks to be found, will we then only be able to look back at how we have managed our past and wonder if we could have done better, if we took it for granted. The archaeologist, the recreational diver and the dive charter operator all have something in common, it is to their advantage to protect our marine heritage. In future visits to a well preserved site archaeologists could continue to study and obtain relevant information, for the recreational divers they will be visiting an intact site rather than bare bones, not having to rely on the tales of others describing what it was like when it was first found for them to have an appreciation, and the charter operator will continue to have clients willing to pay to see a well preserved wreck worthy of their expenses. In other words, it is to every ones advantage to: DIVE TO PRESERVE |
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