Culturally and Environmentally Sensitive Sunken Warships

• Author: Craig JS Forrest
• Position: Reader. Marine and Shipping Law Unit, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. This article is based on a paper presented at the joint 2011 Conference between the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and the US and Canada Maritime Law Association
• Pages: 80-88

(2012) 26 A&NZ Mar LJ

CULTURALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE SUNKEN WARSHIPS

Craig Forre st∗

1 Intro duction

A significant number, if not the majority, of archaeologically, historically or culturally important shipwrecks are

warships. These ra nge from Roman and Vi king warships to ic onic vessels of the 1 6th to 18th century, suc h as the

Mary Rose,1 Vasa2 a nd La Trinidad Valencera,3 to the ironclads and stream powered warships of the 19th

century, such as the USS Monitor,4 CSS Hunley 5 and HMS Birkenhead.6 It is not surprising, for e xample, to find

that the majority of wrecks designated as being of historical or archaeological importance in UK territorial

waters are warships. Whilst historic wrecks are often thought to be mainly those of past centuries, wrecks of the

20th century are increasingly regarded as embodying historic or cultural values worthy of protection.7 This is

particularly so for many World War I and II wrecks, whose significance i s recognised by the ir designation and

protection by domestic heritage legislation in a number of States.8 The significance of these wrecks ma y arise

for a number of reasons. In some cases, the wreck may represent a rare or even unique example of a particular

type of vessel, such as Nazi Germany’s only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin; in others the vessel may hold an

iconic status for a particular nation, such as HMS Hood for the UK, Bismarc k for Germany, Yamato for Japan,

HMAS Sydney for Australia and the USS Arizona for the US, all casualties of World War II. W recks may hold

historic value because of the specific events giving rise to their sinking, such as the Japanese mid get submarines

that were able to pierce the coastal defence of Sydney harbour; association with a famous historical figure such

as PT-109, commanded by John F. K ennedy and HMS Hampshire, on which Lord Kitc hener died, or association

with particular historical events, such as the wr eck of USS Indianapolis which had transported urani um and

components for ‘Little Boy’, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The very fact that many lives ma y have

been lost with a vessel will of itself imbue a wreck with historic significance, as well as more general cultural

significance as a maritime gravesite and memorial. Although it is mainly warships that acquire significance for

reasons of this kind, merchant vessels sunk d uring both war and pea ce may well constitute gravesites deserving

of respectful treatment and may sometimes also have other historic significance.9

While many of these wreck are of undoubted historic significance, requiring their preservation, often in situ,

many also pose significant threats, or at least some hazard or obstacle. The two World Wars have left a legacy

of potentially hazardous wrecks, i ncluding bunker or cargo oils, munitions, or other poisonous or noxious

cargoes. During World War II more than 9 000 military, auxiliary and merchant mari ne vessels were sunk. I n

the Pacific region alone, an estimated 3 319 vessel were sunk, of whic h 2 710 were merchant ships inc luding a

large number of ta nkers or munitions s hips.10 Indeed, a 2005 survey considered that of the 8 569 wrecks world-

wide that potentially pose an oil pollution threat, over 75 per cent are casualties of World War II.11

∗ Reader. Marine and Shipping Law Unit, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, Australia. This article is based on a paper

presented at the joint 2011 Conference between the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and the US and Canada

Maritime Law Association.

As time

passes, and the structure of the hulls erode and disintegrate, the threat becomes more serious. Such wrecks are

environmental ‘time-bombs’. The USS Mississinewa, for exampl e, sank in the Ulithi lagoon in the Federated

1 The ship sank in July 1545 in the Solent, near the Isle of Wight.

2 The ship sank on its maiden voyage in August 1628 in Stockholm harbour.

3 The ship sank in September 1588 off Donegal Ireland after the failed Spanish invasion of England.

4 The ship sank whilst under tow in December 1862 off Ca pe Hatteras, North Carolina.

5 The submarine Hunley sank in February 1864 after having successfully sunk the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbour, South Carolina.

6 The ship sank in February 1852, while transporting troops off the coast of South Africa near Cape Town.

7 A number of wreck sites of warships have considerable salvage value due to the cargo carried. This would apply to vessels of earlier

centuries, particularly Spanish Galleons, as well as vessels of more recent origin, such as the HMS Edinbrugh , the SS John Barry and the

Japanese submarine I-52.

8 This includes, for exam ple, the protection of the Japanese World War II vess els sunk in Chuuk (Truk) lagoon, which are collectively

protected as a national monument under Chuuk State law; the US, Australian, New Zealand and Japanese wrecks in Iron Bottom Sound off

the island of Guadalcanal, which are protected by Solomon Islands law; and the World War I scuttled German fleet at Scapa Flow, which is

protected under UK law.

9 RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania, Wilhelm Gustloff and Goya are all examples. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the worst maritime

disaster in history with over 9 000 German refugees dying when she was torpedoed by a Russian submarine off Poland in 1945. Similarly,

the Goya was also sunk in 1945 by a Russian subma rine with over 6 000 refugees and wounded German troops on board, most of whom

perished.

10 C R Petersen, ‘A proposed Annex to the Wreck Removal Convention Treaty to Address Environmental hazards of Sunken World War II

Naval Vessels’ (2007) Master of Environmental Policy and Management Capstone Project 5, 13.

11 J Michel et al, ‘Potentially Polluting Wrecks in Marine Waters’ (Paper presented at the International Oil Spill Conference, 2005).

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