> The answer then is to employ more conservators....
>
Or you could teach the preservation techniques to the wreck divers doing the
recovery.
What a concept!
As far as i can see the wreck amnesty only covers Naval wrecks. What about
the other 90% of wrecks out there? The process for preservation of most of
the items recovers by divers - Brass, glass, some iron - are easy to lean and
do with a little knowledge and about $100 in equipment and chemicals. You
know a day of wreck diving can run over that and you just may find that the
divers are more then willing to learn how to do the preservation. Some may
even want to learn about wood, paper, and leather also.
When you get the divers registering their artifacts, why don't you give out
hand outs on how to preserve that artifact? Or, get copies of the Texas A&M
lag book to the dive clubs so they can start their own labs.
Please remember by the time a diver gets all the gear, training, and
experience in to do the deeper dives and recover an artifact, they are
jumping into the water with up to $6,000 of gear. A few hundred (or even a
few thousand) for a simple lab set up is not out of the question for many
divers and clubs.
Who knows, you just may find yourself with about 50 more preservation labs
then you though you had.
Pete Johnson
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