Hms Sussex

EDM number 250 in 2002-03, proposed by Edward O'Hara on 02/12/2002.

That this House applauds the Government's recent actions to protect the wreck of the American warship Bonhomme Richard and to return treasure illicitly taken from the wreck in Italian waters; welcomes recent improvements to the Treasure Act and its Code of Practice strengthening archaeological reporting of portable antiquities; notes the generally successful arrangement for archaeological investigations in public private partnerships for major infrastructure projects, including deposition of all finds in public museums; further notes the Government has ratified the Valetta Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage and has explicitly endorsed the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, both of which proscribe excavations carried out principally to recover precious metals and cultural objects for sale and dispersal; regrets therefore that the Ministry of Defence has signed a treasure-hunting contract with Odyssey Marine Inc. based on the sale of cultural materials from the warship, Sussex which sank off Gibraltar in 1694; doubts whether the project's principal purpose is recovery and disposal of UK cultural assets, conservation of the wreck, or archaeological research for public benefit; questions the technical feasibility of undertaking proper archaeological research at a depth of 2,500 feet; further notes significant domestic and international concern about precedents that this case may set; and asks the Government urgently to reconsider its decision not to sign the UNESCO Convention on the Underwater Cultural Heritage, and to work closely with national and international experts and governments to develop and adopt effective means of protecting and managing the underwater cultural heritage in the public interest.

This motion has been signed by a total of 63 MPs.