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The following are NOAA-generated press-releases/articles
published in
mainstream media over the summer of 2008
| Just
before the NOAA "Battle of the Atlantic" dives begin, we learn
of the specifics in the media |
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http://www.underwatertimes.com/print.php?article_id=64982510137
NOAA And Partners To Explore German Subs Sunk
Off North Carolina During World War II
Underwatertimes.com News Service
July 7, 2008
21:11 EST
Washington, D.C. --
NOAA will lead a research expedition July 7-26 to study the wrecks of
three German submarines sunk by U.S. forces in 1942 off the coast of
North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic.
“This expedition is the first part of a larger
multi-year project to research and document a number of historically
significant shipwrecks tragically lost during World War II, including
U.S. and British naval vessels and merchant marine vessels,” said
David W. Alberg, expedition leader and superintendent of USS Monitor
National Marine Sanctuary. “The information collected during this
expedition will be crucial to efforts to preserve these historic
sites.”
During the expedition, researchers will survey
and photograph visible sections of the three submarines, U-352, U-85 and
U-701 using non-invasive methods. The survey team will also study marine
life found at the sites. Consistent with U.S. and international policy,
the submarine wreck sites are considered war graves and will not be
disturbed during the expedition.
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
is conducting the survey in partnership with the Minerals Management
Service, National Park Service, state of North Carolina, East Carolina
University and the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies
Institute, who are all providing technical expertise and logistical
support for the expedition.
The sunken German U-boats are located in an area
known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” which encompasses
shipwrecks from both sides of the Battle of the Atlantic at recreational
diving depths (less than 130 feet). The wrecks are popular dive sites
off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Two of the U-boats, U-352 and U-85, have been
severely impacted by salvage operators and souvenir hunters since their
discovery more than three decades ago. U-701 is relatively intact but
also has begun to show signs of damage from illegal salvage attempts.
The sub was discovered by recreational divers in 1989 before being
covered by sand and rediscovered in 2004.
Phase two of the project, scheduled for summer
2009, will investigate primarily the Allied wrecks in the Graveyard of
the Atlantic. Some of the wrecks lie at recreational diving depths,
while many are located in deeper waters where they remain untouched and
in relatively good condition.
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| In
July, NOAA begins to tarnish the reputation of wreckdivers, shaping
public opinion through the media |
http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/v-print/story/1148778.html
Expedition diving on sunken U-boats off NC coast
Mon Jul 21, 2008
The Associated PressComment on this story
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - An underwater expedition this summer is
surveying sunken German submarines off the North Carolina coast as
part of a government project to document World War II shipwrecks.
Divers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and
other agencies have explored one submarine, U-352, off Morehead City
already. The expedition now is focused on two other U-boats off Oregon
Inlet, U-85 and U-701, through Friday.
The submarines were sunk in 1942.
Officials say the expedition will continue next summer with
exploration of sunken Allied ships.
"This expedition is the first part of a larger multiyear project
to research and document a number of historically significant
shipwrecks tragically lost during World War II, including U.S. and
British naval vessels and merchant marine vessels," said Davis
Alberg, leader of the expedition.
"The information collected during this expedition will be crucial
to efforts to preserve these historic sites."
Shannon Ricles, education and outreach coordinator for the Monitor
National Marine Sanctuary, said divers got about 30 minutes of photos
on the first dive despite low visibility caused by bad weather.
Ricles said photos will be linked into a mosaic that shows the all the
dimensions of the vessel.
"We want to see where they are, what condition they are in and if
there is anything we can do to protect them," Ricles said.
Two of the submarines, U-352 and U-85, have been picked over by relic
and souvenir hunters since the wrecks were located about 30 years ago
even though the wrecks are considered war graves and are not supposed
to be disturbed.
Officials said at least 10 German sailors are believed to be in the
U-701 and that U-352 also contains remains.
U-701 is the most intact of the subs but it, too, has been discovered
by recreational divers.
Tane Casserley, the national maritime heritage coordinator for NOAA's
Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries, said the goal of the dives
is to be able to "protect all the wrecks around here."
"What we want to stop is the looting and souvenir hunting that
goes on," Casserley said. "We want divers to enjoy them. We
just don't want them to take anything from them."
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| Multiple
versions were published on the same day |
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http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/noaa-goes-diving-uboats-north-carolina
NOAA goes diving for U-boats in North Carolina
Dave Ball of Minerals Management Service comes up from examining
the U-701 wreck Saturday off the coast of North Carolina. (Chris
Curry | The Virginian-Pilot)
By Catherine
Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 21, 2008
DIAMOND SHOALS
Deep purple water with streaks of sparkling azure concealed a war
grave 110 feet beneath the surface. A vessel plying the waters off
the Outer Banks on Saturday was hunting for what was once the
hunter, a German submarine sunk 66 years ago by depth charges
dropped by an American bomber.
Divers on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
new 41-foot catamaran were geared up and waiting to descend to
survey the U-701, the most intact of discovered U-boats sunk off the
North Carolina coast.
Boat captain Chad Smith, NOAA's East Coast vessel coordinator,
slowed the catamaran's motor and circled the position above where
the wreck lay mostly buried on the ocean floor about 22 miles off
Avon.
"All right, guys, start moving toward the stern," dive
master Tane Casserley said to the five divers. The boat's motor was
cut.
"Dive, dive, dive!"
Casserley, a NOAA archaeologist and diver who is serving as the
principal co-investigator in the research expedition, watched as the
men disappeared under the water. The divers on the vessel were part
of a 19-day project to study the U-701 and two other submarine
wrecks sunk off the coast in 1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic.
"Ultimately, the goal is to protect all the wrecks around
here," said Casserley, the national maritime heritage
coordinator for NOAA's Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries.
"What we want to stop is the looting and souvenir hunting that
goes on."
On their second attempt, the divers, some carrying huge cameras
as well as the 120 pounds of tanks on their backs, located the
U-701. Visibility was good, they said, but the strong 2-knot current
made it a challenge to survey the wreck.
"Everything is on it - all the hatches, everything, "
John
McCord, education programs coordinator with the University of
North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute, said as he peeled off his
diving gear. "I had my feet dug in and I was leaning as far
back as I can. Every time I'd sit back and film, it would slowly
push me back up."
Exploration of the U-352 off Morehead City began the week of July
7, but four days were lost to bad weather. The U-85 off of Nags
Head, as well as the U-701, will be studied this week.
NOAA and partners from the state, the Minerals Management
Service, the National Park Service, East Carolina University and the
UNC institute have combined their areas of expertise in surveying
and photographing the vessels.
"Never has a detailed archaeological survey of the wrecks
been done," David Alberg, superintendent of the Monitor
National Marine Sanctuary, said in an interview before the
expedition. "This is step
one. We're not digging, and we're not
touching the site."
At least 10 German sailors are believed to be entombed in the
U-701. The U-352 also contains war dead. U.S. and international
policies prohibit disturbance of maritime graves.
The U-85, the first U-boat submarine sunk in U.S. waters, and the
U-352 have been popular recreational diving sites for years; each
has been picked clean of artifacts. But until 2004, the U-701 was
undisturbed because only one diver knew the coordinates, and he kept
them secret.
After Hurricane Isabel partially unburied the submarine, word got
out about its location. NOAA worked with other government agencies
and members of the diving community to create a diving preserve at
the site. Within months, a dive team discovered that numerous parts
of the wreck had been stolen.
But still, the U-701 retains much of its original condition, and
NOAA has maintained its goal of creating a sanctuary for the wreck.
"This is the one that has the most chance of being preserved
and protected for the American public," Casserley said.
The other two submarine sites may also qualify for cultural
protection, he said. A goal of the project is to have the wreck
sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as
to establish diving sanctuaries. There are 14 protected areas in the
National Marine Sanctuary System.
"We're not limiting divers by any means," Casserley
said. "We want divers to enjoy them. We just don't want them to
take anything from them."
Researchers plan to post the data learned from the expedition
online, he said. And next year, the expedition will be surveying a
yet-to-be-learned number of Allied wrecks sunk in waters off the
North Carolina coast.
The project is a significant step in preservation of maritime
history and culture, said Joe Hoyt, a maritime archaeologist
contractor for NOAA.
"It's one of the closest places where the war came home to
America continuously," he said.
"It's really the only place where you can visit the
battlefield of the Atlantic."
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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| August:
NOAA claims their story was embellished and dramatized by the media.
Nevermind that their representatives were quoted directly. When asked
directly as to whether NOAA either supports the statements and tone
taken by their representatives, or were they persuing the reporter who
took words out of context, NOAA's Dave Alberg does not respond. Needless
to say, the NC wreckdiving public is outraged at the way NOAA is using
the media to slander wreckdivers in the eyes of the public, thus
building a case for their future activities. |
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2489763/Looters-plunder-wrecks-in-the-graveyard-of-the-Atlantic.html |
| http://minelabowners.com/forum/printview.php?t=19353&start=0
Hot Off The Press!!! - Looters plunder wrecks in
the 'graveyard' of the Atlantic
R2tag - Sun Aug 03, 2008
06:37
Post subject: Looters plunder wrecks in the 'graveyard' of the
Atlantic
Merchant ships and Royal Navy vessels are among the wrecks lying off the
coast of America which were sunk by German U-boats during the Battle of
the Atlantic.
The stretch of seabed off North Carolina and Virginia contains up to 90
wrecks, most lying at relatively shallow depths, offering divers and
maritime historians unique opportunities for exploration.
However, experts have warned that the wrecks are increasingly being
disturbed by divers, some of whom are removing items to keep as
souvenirs.
Weapons and other artefacts have been looted and divers are even said to
have removed the skeleton of a German sailor from a sunken U-boat in the
area.
On one British wreck, the remains of a sailor who went down with his
ship have recently been exposed by the seabed's shifting sands and
historians are concerned they could be targeted by souvenir hunters.
A major new project has now been launched to survey the wrecks and
conduct an inventory of the items that have been stripped from them and
to help protect what is left.
Most of the ships were sunk during the first half of 1942 when the Nazis
took their U-boat offensive right up to the US coast.
The campaign, which started with Operation Paukenshlag (Drumbeat), was
successful for the Germans, who called the period the Second Happy Time,
after an earlier phase of Allied sinkings.
Initially, there was no convoy system and little protection given to the
British and American merchant ships which travelled up the coast alone
from the Gulf of Mexico before assembling further north to cross the
Atlantic in large numbers.
The U-boats were able to pick off ships in daylight, or at night when
they were illuminated by lights from the shore. The waters off North
Carolina were named "Torpedo Junction".
Among those sunk was HMT Bedfordshire, a British fishing trawler
converted for anti-submarine warfare, which was part of the Royal Naval
Patrol Service.
The unit's makeshift nature saw it nicknamed "Churchill's
Pirates" or "Harry Tate's Navy", using a phrase from the
time to suggest amateurism.
The Bedfordshire was one of 24 armed trawlers sent to the US to combat
the U-boat threat but on May 11, 1942, she was struck by a torpedo and
sent to the bottom with the loss of all crew, thought to number 37.
The wreck is about 12 miles offshore in about 60ft of water and is one
of the wrecks thought to have been looted.
Joseph Hoyt, a maritime archaeologist from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, which is conducting the new survey, said:
"I move in diving community circles and I know that things have
been moved off the Bedfordshire.
Most divers want to go out and enjoy the sites and experience the
history, but because these sites are so small and are not renewable, it
doesn't take much of a minority to have a very visible and long-lasting
impact."
Four bodies washed up on the shore after the ship sunk, but the others
went down with the ship. Human remains have been seen by divers this
year and there are fears the site could be desecrated.
Mr Hoyt added: "A lot of divers, if they find a skull, or remains,
will decide that others want to see it, so will move it out and bring it
up on deck, without realising it is extremely disrespectful.
"These sorts of things are definite cause for some formal
investigation. The main goal of our project is to get a handle on what
is there and how we can prevent these war graves from being disturbed
any further."
He added: "It is really common for items to be removed. If there is
a site that is being dived, then stuff is missing. There are a few
British sites that we will be looking at that we have heard from the
local diving community about potentially being disturbed."
One of the bodies washed up during the war, and now buried in a small
cemetery in North Carolina, was Sub Lieutenant Tom Cunningham.
His son, 65, from near Knutsford, in Cheshire and also called Tom, said:
"I don't want the ship pulled apart by bounty
hunters. I know there
have already been things removed but as far as I am concerned, it is a
war grave."
The project, which will run for several years, has already seen
researchers dive onto the wrecks of three U-boats in the area, U-85,
U-352 and U-701.
The team found several items had been removed, including hatches,
periscopes and antennae, and divers have been able to get inside two of
the wrecks. There are persistent rumours among local divers that human
remains of a sailor have been removed.
Next year, the study will focus on Allied wrecks, including the
Bedfordshire. Other British wrecks expected to be surveyed are the armed
trawlers Kingston Ceylonite and Senateur Duhamel as well as the merchant
vessels Empire Gem and the British Splendour.
David Alberg, who is leading the project, said: "The vast majority
of divers just go to see, but it doesn't take more than a handful to do
a lot of damage.
"They are going to a grave and looting material from a grave. It is
a level of selfishness that I find almost unfathomable. We can clearly
see the evidence of the impact. These are memorials to all who served in
World War Two.
"When you disturb them, it is an insult to anyone who gave their
life to serve in the conflict."
Joseph Schwarzer, director of the North Carolina Maritime Musuems, said:
"We don't want to stop people going down, but we want them to leave
them alone, not to use a hacksaw or cutting torch to remove the
periscopes, deck guns, valves and not to start pulling bodies and
skeletal remains out."
Until four years ago, it was permitted to remove things from wrecks more
than 12 miles from the US coast. However, they are now protected,
although people can visit.
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| -COMMENTARY- |
| When meeting with Dave Alberg in person on
December 3, 2008, he expressed concern that so many people were talking
about NOAA's activities and intent without ever calling him directly to
nail down the facts as he sees them. He felt that much of the talk and
rumor were unfounded. The best response to his unfulfilled desire that
people call him directly rather than talk/speculate among themselves is
this: After reading these articles, his position and intent were crystal
clear. After the way NOAA (Alberg) used the media to assault the
reputation of NC wreckdivers, there was no need to speak with him. Why
would anyone want to call someone to chat after reading these
articles? |
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| He claims some of the quotes were not meant
to be published. Misinterpreted. Taken the wrong way. There are no plans
to expand the sanctuary. |
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In none of NOAA's statements does it make
clear that mother nature is a far greater danger to the shipwrecks than
wreckdivers could ever be.
Through grassroots education projects, divers can be educated on
respectful diving practices. Unfortunately, mother nature will never
listen. |
| There
is nothing wrong with the status quo that a grassroots diver education
campaign can't fix. We have suggested this, to Alberg
directly.
Rather than spend millions and millions of tax dollars to impose
restrictions on the public, why not let Archaeological Grad Students
educate the diving public, why not begin a ground-level project of
education? We have suggested this, directly and in person.
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